Legend of Zelda: Remnants of a Lost Kingdom
by distasio09
Summary: This story is not to be a direct sequel to any single zelda game. It instead is to be an original story within the Zelda universe following the events of many of the previous Zelda games. The first chapter includes a prologue and disclaimer
1. A World Separated From Hyrule

**Legend of Zelda: Remnants of a Lost Kingdom**

Fanfic By DiStasio09

**Disclaimer**

The origin of this story is in no way, shape, or form, my own work. Most character names and descriptions are either similar or exactly the same as those from the original games. There are however a few more characters that I have made up for my own personal sake or for more story completion. The original premise of the story is derived from those who are far more intelligent and original than myself at Nintendo. And they have my full thanks and appreciation for making such phenomenal games. My personal favorites were Ocarina of Time (OT), Wind Waker (WW), and Twilight Princess (TP). This story is neither a direct replica of these games, nor random occurrences within said games. This story assumes (properly or improperly) that those three games are connected in one singular story and is a direct sequel to the events of those games.

The other assumptions are that the stories of previous games happened in the following order: OT, TP, and then WW. Also, that the events of each story were separated by some large amount of time. This time can be roughly estimated to be between a century and a millennium. The other addition I have put into this story is the comparison and connection to real world events. Both OT and TP occurred before the great flood of every major religion that covered the earth some time in 10,000 BCE and that WW occurred during that flood and that washed the world of Hyrule away from the planet earth.

After that time period all the events of the Zelda world nearly vanished with the exception of a small chain of islands in the Mid Atlantic Ocean that is seemingly dead to all except those Elf-like people known to us as Hylians. These Islands are kept magically separated from the rest of the world and all who venture near it, by sea or air, that don't belong to their world, either return with no memory of the islands, or are lost at sea forever. The mystery of that happening has baffled earth scientists for years, and most people refer to the area with a since of fear and danger, and gave it the name, "The Bermuda Triangle."

The main character is, as always, a young boy named Link. However the key difference is that he was raised in Manhattan during a modern time frame (Early 21st century).

For those of you who have played all three of the afore-mentioned games this prologue will be enjoyable for you but you can feel free to jump right into the story. This story will be a long and drawn out plot, involving a love that has never been explored with the hero and the princess, and a terrible plan from the villain that will develop over many betrayals and alliances. It will span a great many chapters and possibly a great many novel sized reads, and should hopefully challenge the games themselves for depth, imagination, and character growth.

Most importantly, this story is the result of a lot of time, research of the original games, and effort that I have personally put in. I have done this without any desire of profit or recognition from the game designers. It is strictly for my personal enjoyment and the enjoyment of the reader. In other words I do not want to be arrested for plagiarism or stealing someone else's well established idea, but merely add to it with another chapter in the saga.

The appropriate reader age for this story is young adult. Anyone from the age range of 15 through 25 should be able to enjoy this story and relate to the characters. As a warning there is one suggestive theme and situation that occurs in the first chapter of this story. There will be no other situations of that extent anywhere else in this story, and I still have mixed feelings on whether or not to include it in the final work. It is a situation in which the mother finds some potentially explicit photos on her eighteen year old son's camera phone (the story intentionally does not come out and say it but instead lets the reader draw their own conclusions). My final decision to include this one controversial topic is from two reasons. The first is current events in which young high school teenagers are currently being arrested and held with child pornography charges for having those types of photos on their camera phones. My other reason for keeping this scenario is that although it is not essential for the plot of the story, it shows that they have been in a single relationship for the last for years (their entire high school lives) and that they are both being very much in love and devoted to each other. If there are enough complaints I will also have a second version of this story which will exclude that one situation. …Kinda like an edited for content Titanic.

Thank you to anyone who reads this for your time and any feedback on perspective story and grammatical errors would be greatly appreciated, and promptly fixed, or I will send a reply. As a side note, if any grammatical errors are in quotations, there's a major possibility that they were intentional based on the fact that people don't speak with proper grammar.

* * *

**Prologue**

Stories, which now have been passed down well over many millennia, tell the tale of a hero of courage, a princess of wisdom, and an evil being of great power. The gods know when the time is of dire need, from the presence of this evil being, and place the hero's soul into a living being. This is the ancient world of Hyrule. The princess is passed down from one generation to the next through the royal family blood line, but there is no blood line or heritage in the soul of the hero. Instead his soul is placed in a person chosen and ordained by the gods. The evil being, nearly as immortal as the gods themselves, has remained a terrible constant throughout the ages.

The hero and princess perpetually are in battle with the malevolent being in a world that is magically separated and hidden from our own. If you ever want to find this world, you need to look no further than where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Caribbean Sea. Did you ever wonder why all those planes and boats would always disappear? The myths about the Bermuda Triangle and the triangles of the Triforce have been linked ever since the three goddesses made their world, and ours.

* * *

The first time the demon known as Ganon appeared, he tricked the hero and the princess while they were both at the young age of ten. He used them both to get into the sacred realm. The hero broke the magic seal on the door with the Ocarina of Time, given to him by the princess, and took the legendary blade, the Master Sword. Too young to fully wield it he was sealed, protected, by its power for seven years. With the door he the young boy left opened, Ganon entered the sacred realm and took the legendary Triforce, a gift left by the three goddesses who made this land, which is said to grant the wish of the one who touches it.

But not all went according to Ganon's plan. Instead an ancient prophecy was fulfilled. It was foretold that the Triforce was in fact three separate triangles, and only together would they truly grant the wish of its holder, but they were a scale weighing that being's heart. If the heart was in balance of the three parts of the Triforce; power, wisdom, and courage, only then would he truly hold it. If not, two of the triangles would vanish leaving him only with the one which he believed in most. He would then have to find the other two in those chosen by destiny. The only sign of that person having it would be the Triforce symbol on the back of that person's dominant hand.

Seven years later, the young hero awoke to find that the once peaceful kingdom of Hyrule was now a wasteland due to Ganon and his Triforce of Power. With the help Sheik, one of the few survivors of a family line meant to protect the royal family, he awoke all six sages of the kingdom. At this time Sheik revealed herself to be the now grown up princess who was the one destiny chose to be the bearer of the Triforce of Wisdom, and that it was the hero himself who was to bear the Triforce of Courage.

Together, they defeated Ganon, but due to the Triforce of Power he was unable to die. All they could do to end the conflict is to seal him in the void of the sacred realm, where he would be imprisoned… forever. The hero and princess had to also part ways never to see each other again.

* * *

Parallel to the world of Hyrule, a world of light is a world of twilight. This world most of the beings lived in peace with Hyrule except for one spiteful being. His hate and anguish for that world of light was enough for Ganon to draw the strength he needed to free himself from the void of the sacred realm. The freed demon gave this new hateful being, Zant, the power he needed to conquer the king and queen of the twilight realm, and turn the princess, Midna, to a mere imp. Ganon then transported Zant to the world of light and gave him free reign to attack the unsuspecting world of Hyrule. Taking the castle, he gave the young princess a choice; her world would be transformed to a terrible world where all the beings of light were transformed to ghosts of their former selves, or death to her and all her subjects. Her subjects in mind, she was left with no choice, and Hyrule's surrender into shadow was absolute.

The gods decided that it was time for a new hero to step forward. He grew up in a small southern village in the province of Ordon, herding goats for a job. The Triforce mark was imprinted on his hand since birth, though he had no idea of its true meaning. As the hero's world turned to twilight, the power of the Triforce of Courage shielded him from becoming a ghost like everyone around him, but instead he became a wolf, sacred being in the world of twilight. Midna found the young hero in his wolf form in a prison, and helped to set him free. Together they were able to save her world and defeat Zant.

This left only one obstacle remaining, Ganon. Midna remained behind risking her own life so that the hero and the princess of Light were able to escape. Shortly after the escape, the final confrontation happened on the fields of Hyrule. The hero thrust the Master Sword into the chest of that foul demon. The Triforce of Power faded from his hand and his physical body died while still standing. His soul was forcefully returned to its imprisonment in the void of the sacred realm. The seal on this realm was now the Master Sword placed faithfully back in the Pedestal of Time. And the Hero's Triforce of Courage broke into 8 shards, which were dispersed throughout the land. This way not only would the gods have to choose the next hero, but the hero would have to recover all the shards to fully use his power and draw the Master Sword, thus prevent breaking Ganon's seal.

* * *

Ganon's lost a great deal of power getting a new physical form to attack Hyrule with. With the seal on most of his strength still intact by the Master Sword attack on the kingdom of Hyrule. Even in this weakened state he was still more than capable to invade Hyrule, so much so that even the gods feared arising a third hero to defeat him knowing that his full strength would be restored as soon as the hero removed the Master Sword. At this time there was also no princess, just a young king named Daphnes. Instead the gods secretly had all the people of Hyrule flee to the mountain tops and their world was completely flooded. All that remains of Hyrule was few scattered islands, and Ganon's kingdom became his Tomb.

Eventually he found a portal to the surface in an old abandoned fortress. His power still sealed by the blade that he may never touch. Yet, he had a new ally, a large bird named Helmaroc to do his wet work for him. The bird was sent out looking for girls with elfish ears, the last recognizable feature of the royal family's, of the princess's descent. With no other instructions it maliciously chased and kidnapped all those specific girls it could find until it found a young pirate captain. Her crew fended the bird off to a small island.

On this island when a young boy turns fifteen he is given clothing of the hero so that he might show the courage of the hero of legend. One boy in particular was celebrating his birthday with his sister when that large bird stole her leaving the pirate captain behind. He was able to convince the pirate captain to take him to sea and set course for the fortress that the bird is said to fly from. Unable to save his sister he was flung from the island and had to find some means of fighting back, the Master Sword.

He passed the test of the gods and returned to a preserved Hyrule Castle hidden deep beneath the water. In that castle's basement, he removed the Master Sword just like his two predecessors, unknowingly freeing Ganon, and restoring his full strength. Link immediately returned the fortress for a second attempt. This time he was able to free his sister and all the other innocent girls trapped in the fortress, however facing Ganon, he was only narrowly able to escape with his life. Worse still, Ganon had placed a powerful seal on the Master Sword using the very same seal that had been on him for so many years.

He and the pirate captain were called back to Hyrule Castle, where she was awakened as the princess of wisdom. Together, the hero learned of a way to break the seal on his Master Sword and how to recover the lost Triforce shards. Just as the hero returned to Hyrule Castle, Ganon had taken her hostage. It was all a trap in which the hero was meant to follow her.

He fell right into it and was quickly defeated by Ganon. The Triforce was now removed from the hero and the princess and it became whole again. King Daphnes, long thought dead, had touched the Triforce before Ganon having his wish granted instead. It was for a future of the children of Hyrule living above the water. In anger and desperation Ganon attacked the hero and the princess. Using their power of light and the master sword they defeated Ganon this final time. Ganon's whole body was turned into stone and the sword remained in his head.

Eventually all but a few islands disappeared completely from existence, and what remained was still magically separated from the rest of the world. On those scattered islands most memories of a lost kingdom, a hero, a princess, and a demon were completely lost.

* * *

**Chapter 1: A World Separated From Hyrule**

"Link, come down stairs and get your breakfast. Ya don't wanna miss your own graduation, do you!?"

The cool summer morning air was pushed in by the breeze through the bedroom window. His slightly messy blonde hair fell lightly across his deep blue eyes as he sat up. The dark green graduation robe was neatly folded on the chair near him.

His mother's voice tapered off before she yelled again, a little more aggravated this time. "Hurry it up! You've been up all night playing games again, haven't you!?"

"No Mom," link replied through the door though the TV screen was still showing a teenager wearing almost all green, riding a horse running through a field. He must have crashed out at some time around midnight last night.

He hit the power button on his game cube, but before he turned off the TV, some urgent sounding news story caught his attention.

"Recently a small Research Submarine went missing. Reports are still unclear, but it seems that there was no terrorist activity in that area at that time, however a terrorist attack has not been completely ruled out. The submarine was investigating seismic activity at the northern end of the Bermuda triangle.

Apparently it found the remains of a castle and a long lost city. So far this city doesn't match any in our history. There was one artifact in particular it found when all communications were lost, and all ties to its support vessel were severed. We will now show you the last recorded videos and images from this tragic incident."

The TV displayed a very clouded and choppy image from the submarine's camera being lit by the very weak electronic glow of its fluorescent bulb. As it moved you could start to see the faint outline of a stone statue of a large man. As the camera got closer to its target, the image gradually cleared around a stone statue. The camera methodically panned up and down to show that the whole statue was beautifully crafted, and still in perfect condition. As it reached the top of the man's head there was a European style sword with blue hilt placed firmly in his head, which the mechanical arm was reaching for and grabbed hold. The image instantly got rippled and cut in and out but then suddenly cleared. The very last shot before the footage was lost was the sword being completely removed and what seemed to be the image of the stone statue moving.

"As you can see the mechanical arm reached for the sword, but upon contact all transmissions fluttered for a moment. What is even more confusing is that upon removal all communications were completely lost. When the support vessel attempted to pull it to the surface all the wires were cut in the same spot and with no other damage except those smooth slices. Our only lead at this time is that the statue seems to have changed its position after contact with the sword was made. We currently have famed archeologist Henry Jones, and the leader of the team supporting the undersea research vessel, Samantha Edwards, had this to say…"

Before the scene changed, the TV went blank and silent when Link pushed the power button on the remote and threw it on his bed. He slowly wandered groggily down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"Zee-zee just called your cell phone," His little sister called out while hiding behind a box of cheerio's. "She said that she can't wait to see you at the graduation and the party on the boat afterwards."

"Thanks Sarah, I'll call her back after I eat in a few min__" He stopped short and changed his tone, "Hey, when did you make off with my cell phone!?"

"Ya left it down here last night." She replied with a giggle.

"Oops, my bad." He said with a smile to his sister as his accusatory tone dissipated.

His mother interrupted, "Speaking of Zee, you've been spending a lot more time with her. She seems like a really sweet girl."

Sarah was an eleven year old ball of fire. She always had a smile and was very giggly. Sometimes it was as if she was the only person who could really tell if something was wrong or not. Since she was very little she could figure things out most children twice her age still couldn't do. It was really funny, if you needed help programming the DVD player or getting the computer to work she would normally be the first person to be able to fix it. She had light brown hair that went down to just below the shoulder blades. And you could almost always tell her mood from her hazel green eyes, which would go from a deep green if she was happy, to almost a pale blue when sad, and a dark brown if she was ever really angry.

She was now half hidden behind her box of cheerios when she finally shouted, "Link's gotta girlfriend! Look at this, Mommy; he was kissing Zee-zee on the lips!"

"What!? You little brat!" Link yelled across the table at the same time jumping to his feet ready to spring across the table to stop her from handing the phone off to their mom.

It was too late though. All Sarah had to do was turn and she was showing the phone off. "See, mommy, they even took a bunch of pictures together on his cell phone. Why can't I have a cell phone?"

Their mom, Kate, took the phone from Sarah's showing hand, "Sweetie, you know you shouldn't invade you're older brothers privacy like that. I'm sure you won't want him getting between you and your boyfriends someday. We both know he will be really protective of you in a few years when they start liking you."

Link, defeated sat back down to his waffles and syrup almost hoping he could vanish from this situation until the end of the meal.

His mom could easily tell how embarrassed he was and gave him an approving smile, "Don't worry about it. I still think she's a sweetheart," she said handing him back the phone, "just don't rush into anything."

After he finished with his breakfast, Link set his phone back down on the table and walked his dish over to the sink on the way to the balcony. There was a small portion of the NYC skyline near that could be seen from the twentieth floor. He could see directly below all the cars, busses, and taxi cabs running on the busy streets.

Kate silently followed after him giving a soft hug from behind. She was a very beautiful woman of her late thirties. Her strait brown hair went smoothly down her back to just above her waist. She only had bangs that went diagonally down to the right side of her face that would sometimes halfway cover her right eye, but normally it would just rest on her cheeks. Her eyes were the exact same color as her daughter's Sarah which made it very obvious where Sarah had gotten them from. Her nose was very small and her lips always seemed to be showing a smile regardless of her mood. The only true tell she had to her emotions is the color of her eyes. She was a very soft-spoken and pleasant woman, which means that on the rare occasion when she needed to raise her voice or make her presence known, the whole room would give her the attention she requested. This would usually always work even with her two kids. She would always pride herself on a very sharp wit, which served her very well many times when she was younger.

After a long pause she finally said to him, "We should go soon. I don't want to miss the yacht for your graduation at sea."

He loved the idea of the graduation on the water. The boat the school had been renting for more than 3 decades was retired last year and the company had a new one to replace it named after his high-school. The owner's whole family was an alumnus of that school since the early 1920s when they originally made a fortune, so as a way of giving back to this school that passed so many generations of their family through its walls, they offered their best luxury yachts every graduation day.

The whole ceremony was rehearsed twice before with the boat in the docks which only took about a half hour each time. The actual event was planned to last the entire day. The boat would sail out of the New York harbor and go far out to sea for a few hours until there was not another vessel around. A light lunch of finger foods would be served around noon, and then an hour later the graduation would start. The ceremony itself would last about two and a half hours. The podium was set to have everyone speak then pass and get their diploma with the waves and sky behind them.

The next floor down had a large dining hall which was to serve dinner from about four until nine at night. This large room had a neighboring ball room which opened to another deck outside for dancing in the summer moon light that both students and friends and families were able use after the first hour of dinner. The next floor below that was the last floor that was above the surface of the water. It featured a full bar and casino that opened at six o'clock but the entrance was ID checked to prevent anyone under twenty-one from going inside.

The part of the evening Link was going to enjoy the most was being with Lizzie in her graduation gown. All the guys in his class had a dark green foresty color, and the girls had the other school color a milky white gown. In the back of his mind, he had always wondered how he got so lucky to be dating her. To him she was the perfect girl, and much to his surprise she felt the same way about him too. They were each other's whole world it seemed. It was like they just seemed to click in every possible way. The first time they had ever met, freshmen year, they could already almost tell what the other was thinking in the history class they shared. In just five minutes of talking with her they were already laughing and joking. Even her nickname, Zee, just came out one day and she instantly felt right at home with it. He's been calling her that ever since.

Kate, still behind him, released him from her long hug. She looked at her watch and gave a little nudge at his side. "It's nine now, we gotta get going if we want to find a good parking spot."

A few short minutes later, all his stuff was together in a gym bag, so he was finally ready to head out. His hand was only inches from the door knob when he heard a soft tapping from the other side of it. His hand pulled back for a second then grabbed back onto it pulling the door opened. In front of him was a beautiful girl just about his age.

"Zee?" he asked seeing her standing there, a terribly sad expression on her very cute face. She had the type of hair no one could ever distinguish between dark blond and light brunet, with only two bangs on either side of her face that would come to rest on each cheek. When irritated she would commonly blow her bangs off her eyes which landed right where they originally were. More often than not, it was Link's own hand that would tuck these bangs behind her ears. Some of her hair would end up on her shoulders and in front of them, but most went flowing strait and smooth down her back.

Her eyes, which were normally as deep and blue as his, were now filled with tears. Her very pretty face never needed any makeup meant that there was no smudging or running from the tears on her cheeks. The graduation gown she was already wearing hid the subtle curves from her body which was just as perfectly portioned as her face.

"Link__" her said trembling voice started, but before another sound escaped her lips he had his arms around her holding her very close. She instantly relaxed and rested her head on his shoulder holding him too. She wasn't squeezing too tight, just keeping him close letting her troubles drift away as she melted into his arms. She let out a single tear from her closed eyes as a smile came to her lips as if he had just saved her from the weight of the world by being there.

The fingertip from his left hand touched her tear so it dripped off her cheek. His fingers glided across her soft skin and moved her hair from in front of her blue eye tucking it behind her ear. He stared into her blue eyes, glassy from the few tears she released, and he asked, "What is it, Zee?"

"My parents can't make it today," she said leaning on him. He knew that her dad was a doctor and always on call, and her mom's job had her out in California for months at a time, "The office told my mom to cancel her flight because she had to finish the deal with her clients, and dad said the hospital is swamped today." She said and after a sniffling breath, "I don't know what to do."

He gave her a soft kiss on the forehead, "I'm sorry, I know how important it was for your family to be there." He said wishing his own father wasn't lost to that drunk driver all those years ago. He even thought for a minute that he wasn't even sure how much of him Sarah even remembered. "I'm sure we can take you with us, and I'll have mom record it for your family." She gave him a really tight grateful squeeze during the hug and rests back in his arms again; part of it for what he said, and another part just hearing his voice.

Her sadness when she came the door had almost completely dissipated from the long hug when Sarah finally came running over to her. She was in the other room getting all of her DS games together because she didn't notice Zee's presence until now. She was running out of the room and must have near screamed, "Zee-zee," at least a dozen times running across the room to her. Zee bent down giving a quick hug giggling a little.

As soon as Sarah felt Zee's arms touching her back, just like a light just went on her head, Sarah broke the hug and pulled away with a cute little angry face. "You and my brother have been bad!! Kissing boys is so icky." She placed a solid ten seconds lengthening the word, "so."

Link gave Zee a little shrug and mouthed the words to Zee, "She stole my phone."

"It's not that icky," Zee said to Sarah with an innocent smile, but it was already too late. Sarah had already scurried off to the car to wait in the back seat with her DS. Zee turned to Link with a giggle so that only he could hear, "Oh well, at least she didn't find any of the other pics on that phone."

"Ya, mom would of killed me," he replied reaching into his pocket for the cell phone that wasn't there. His face turned pure white of panic since the last place he saw that camera phone was when he set it down on the kitchen table. As soon as some color came back to him, his body turned to a full sprint through the apartment towards the kitchen.

"I guess there was no stopping you two. Was there?" His mother said to him with Zee at his heels holding the phone open in front of her then quickly snapping it shut. As he set it on the table he couldn't help but wonder if it would have been worse if he was caught in the act or that his mom just found the recorded evidence. On the bright side at least they were never caught so there's only that phone to worry about. Her stare went from Link to Zee, who was blushing four different shades of red while staring at her feet in embarrassment. "It's a good thing you're both eighteen or I would have you delete this garbage on the spot, but I guess that's up to the two of you."

"Mom…" he wasn't sure what to say past her stern gaze and just slowly picked the phone up off the table and pocketed it.

Kate instead broke the silence to change the subject while keeping her angry tone, "This discussion will happen later, Link. We're already very late." Her cold stare went to Zee next, "and don't think you're off the hook. I will be calling your mother tonight.

The three of them quietly followed Sarah's example and went to get situated in the car. Before anyone could sit Sarah's voice came from the back seat, "Zee-zee, you need to sit back here with me, so my brother can't do any more icky kisses to you."

Zee slowly slid into the back next to Sarah still blushing while Link just covered his face with his hands. She finally replied to Sarah once her seat-belt was on, "It's not all his fault, it was really me who kissed him and he just kissed back." Sarah had this look of pure shock and disgust on her face, but she still silently listened, "In fact, I'm just as bad, maybe even worse than he is."

"No you're not! All girls are sweet and innocent!" Sarah stammered, "Right mommy?" she said towards the front seat, to which Katie gave a stern look to Link across the steering wheel.

"Sweetie___" Zee started to say but was instantly stopped by Sarah.

"Don't sweetie me! You're not allowed to give me and sweeties right now!"

The rest of the car trip was thankfully uneventful, and he was even more relieved that no one complained on the boat when they were holding hands locking their fingers together.

* * *

The graduation ceremony had only just started, but already it seemed as if an hour of Link's life had been wasted in the uncomfortable folding chair. He couldn't help but wonder how their graduation was on such a nice yacht, and yet they had the cheapest chairs in existence. Finally, after four different supposedly important people, each of which he could care less about than that undersea stone statue with a sword stuck in his head, had finished their dry speeches and left the podium it was the salutatorians turn to make a speech.

A pale eighteen year old kid with short dark hair walked to the podium. He was pretty much all skin and bones, and stood about half a head taller than the rest of the class, except of course for the school's basketball team, walked to the podium. This kid did not like anyone, had few to no friends, and to Link's knowledge, no one liked him either. People effectively avoided him for the most part. It was so much avoidance that no one would even talk to him to give him a hard time. His worst trait of all was his attitude of being above everyone else. Most of the time, staff and students alike would ignore him to where they could pretend he didn't exist. There was nothing, except his height, about his looks that you could use to distinguish him from a crowd. No physical to add to or detract from his physical appearance. He was just a very intelligent person, but with that self serving mentality that no one would want to deal with.

By the end of his smug, and to the relief of everyone in the audience, short speech, the vast majority of the people wanted to forcefully remove him from the podium. Seemingly, the only thing stopping every last person there was the graduation tradition. He had effectively talked down to the entire school population, staff and student alike as if they were toddlers. Every word showed nothing but contempt for the time he had spent there.

"Thank you Mido for that lovely bit of insight," the principal said trying as hard as possible to keep her tone polite, but the sarcasm was definitely obvious. Half of the student body broke into fits of giggles from it. Even Sarah, normally oblivious to stuff like that, was laughing.

"Please take your seat Mido," she says directly to him. She then gave a loud cough into the microphone restoring everyone's attention. "Would our class valedictorian please come forward now to hopefully shed a much more pleasant light on the time at our school?"

Zee slowly came to her feet and politely walked past the people sitting beside her to the center aisle. In the four short years of high-school she had befriended the majority of the students so the whole graduating class roared to life cheering her. She walked perfectly straight to the front of the deck centering on the podium. Just as her lips parted to speak, the cheers became instantly silent filled with anticipation.

The sudden and drastic volume change around her frightened her for a second and her lips came back together. She looked nervously around the whole boat, then glanced over everyone head to the water. Finally her eyes met with Link's who gave a reassuring smile and nod. She smiled back, filled with confidence and moved her lips back to the microphone.

"I've had a prepared speech for a little while now, but in light of that god awful rant we all just heard, I think I'll start elsewhere. After that I might either go back to these cards, or I could just wing it." There was a simultaneous draw drop from the entire deck, surprised by this usually soft spoken girl speaking ill of anyone, regardless of whether or not they deserve it.

"I'll start with something small to those among us too self righteous to realize they didn't get this far in life on their own as they seem to believe…Mido." Soon enough alienating all those around you will lead to Karma coming back to haunt you taking over your life. I just hope I'm there to see it happen. So that when I can say these exact words to you." She paused for a moment looking at him who had his arms crossed looking directly at her as if to attack her with his eyes. She gave a smile back to him knowing that her taunts were having an effect, and continued her speech, "No, I would not like fries with that."

A vast roar of laughter and cheers filled the air. It was enough to cause ripples in the water surrounding the boat. After a few moments she put her hands back up to signal she wanted to speak again, and the room instantly silenced again for her just as it did before. "Well, I've made up my mind on this whole speech thing," she says throwing an index card over her shoulder, "and it looks like I'm just gonna have to wing it then." Wisdom was showing like a light coming out of her with every word she said and every hand gesture she made. She definitely deserved the valedictorian spot instead of Mido, which she won it by the smallest fraction of a GPA possible.

"Ya know, I was originally planning a speech on politics," the next card follows the first, "but it seems that Mr. Johnson covered that in excruciating detail, and bored half of us to tears or death, whichever came first. "Sorry Mr. Jay, you still taught a great world history class." She paused again to allow for a couple giggles. "But instead, I wanted to talk about what I took away from the time I spent there, and hope that everyone sitting with me today can reflect on more than just a pile of things left undone and some lifelong regrets."

"Most of what I learned about life didn't occur in a classroom, but was from both students and teachers, in the hallways." She continued her speech praising every person she had met in the past four years, both individually and all together as a group at the same time. She said no word about Link yet, but she kept looking over his way, directing every smile she had at him while still talking to the student body at large. It was her way of saying that there is still something important at the very end that she was saving just for him and yet she wanted the whole world to know about.

Minutes flew by with the students hanging onto every word. Her tone was steadily starting to dictate that she was just about to wrap everything up. "__and to everyone, I'm sure you all have met some new and interesting people. I hope you've round someone special, like I have, to share your time with and make this four year adventure worthwhile." She stared directly into Link's eyes as if she were standing only inches from him, "and maybe even have found someone you've fallen in love with." Her eyes looked back up addressing everyone again. "So, here's to our lives after this, our next, and much bigger, adventure."

He had never heard Zee say the word, "Love" directly to or about him before. The issue came up a couple times but it was agreed that they would only say it if they really meant it. That way it's much more important when the words are finally said. All of Link's thoughts were completely drowned out by the thunderous applause that filled the entire ship.

As his mind refocused after a few seconds of cheering, his thoughts went to what she said in her speech, "No regrets, it's now or never." Very stealthily he stood up and walked right to the podium hidden by the now standing ovation of four-hundred students.

He stood next to her and said directly to her, but just out loud enough so that the microphone could pick it up, "I love you too." Before she had the chance to make any reply, he kissed her. It was that sort of slow romantic kiss lasting quite a few seconds that no one could ever find disgusting or offensive. Their lips separated at about the same time his voice stopped ringing in the speakers, and he looked out over everyone staring at him turning bright red with embarrassment. The only thing keeping him from losing it completely was Zee's soft grip on his hand which she would squeeze every couple seconds.

"Umm…" he said into the microphone knowing he wasn't supposed to be there, but now knowing that everyone wanted some sort of explanation, "Ladies and gentlemen, I am a man of few words. And with that in mind," He said no other word and just walks off the stage back to his seat.

"Well, let's all hope he doesn't quit his day job to do stand-up." They all giggle at his expanse for a second but she stops them. "Hold on everyone. He may be an idiot, but he's my idiot, and I wouldn't want him any other way." After another short pause she finally gives the speech closure, "Thank you for your time everyone."

The principal tapped her glass at the center dinner table and everyone in the ballroom stopped what they were talking about to look up at him. "I would like everyone to know we are now currently in international waters, and some laws just don't apply out here." Every graduate could almost anticipate what she was about to say next. "I have made some arrangements with the owners for all of my now former students to have a single glass of the house wine." She paused but just for a moment and quickly followed up, "with a parent's consent of course."

"However, I cannot in good conscience permit anyone under twenty-one into the casino or bar area, and no refills. Sorry kids." She apologized with a smile. The carafes of wine quickly made their way around the room and everyone raised their glass to the toast she made still standing.

Katie made a few little jokes about Zee giving her wedding vows on the podium earlier. The four of them; Link, Zee, Sarah, and Katie spent their meal all joking and laughing between themselves watching the afternoon slowly turn into evening.


	2. Zant

**Chapter 2: Zant**

The dancing after the graduation was going well into the night. Link and Zee walked together hand in hand until they found a quiet part of the boar where they were still outside. They had kissed during the sunset, and it seemed to last from when the sky was amber with sunlight until it was filled with stars. They looked down into the water watching it ripple against the boat, and the moon's reflection a little further away.

He released her hand, instead holding around her back hoping that time would just stop for a while. He gazed at the water which seemed that the water didn't even move. Zee seemed to notice it too and thought how perfect everything looked, as if everything was snapped in a picture. They kissed again in the perfectly still night.

After the kiss she moved a standing between Link and the light from the moon. Her whole body seemed to glow, and her skin looked as if she was changed into an angel right in front of him. Her dress looked really amazing in the night light. It had a mix of pink and yellow colors and was strapless. For more formal occasions it could be made into a long gown or for something casual she could make it more into a nice skirt. She hated those long gowns so as soon as she got out of the ballroom she had it changed into the skirt.

Sarah came running to where they were. She looked flushed and panicked, while yelling for Zee. She got to where the two of them were catching her breath for a few moments, and finally said, "Zee-zee, some scary man wants to see you. I don't know why, he didn't even say anything but I know he wants you for some reason.

Zee gave a look of shock as she turned from Sarah to Link. Zee had always had nightmares of a few different large men, most of them using some form or supernatural powers using her to destroy much the peace in the world. Even worse, some of them where she is watching them fight Link, a fight which she has never been able to sleep long enough to know the end of. The only clear memory of those dreams was a strange birth mark on the back of her hand.

She knelt down to Sarah's level so that she could calm down and explain what happened. "I don't know who it is, but he came from nowhere, and everyone except me and him stopped moving. It was like all the people were just statues, not even real." Sarah sighed in relief noticing that Link and Zee were still moving. Then, she continued talking, "It was so weird, he didn't say that he wanted you. He didn't really say anything at all, but I knew it was you he wanted. I could just tell." She stopped talking looking and pointing at the water. "It's not moving at all, look"

"But that's imposs__" Link was cut short by Zee who guided his glance to the motionless water they had just kissed to. She got up to her feet still holding Sarah's hand. She gave a quiet look back to Link and it was like all her thoughts went to him in that look.

They could almost always tell what the other was thinking just by looking at each other alone. Sometimes when their eyes met an entire monologue of thoughts would go back and forth between them. It was a perfect unspoken connection, almost telepathy. Her look at that moment wasn't exactly telling him not to worry, but that she was putting together a last minute plan. Instantly her thoughts came rushing into his head, "The man from my nightmares? You didn't freeze so he obviously needs you too, so stay hidden as I approach him," and just as quickly as her thoughts showed up, they trailed off to nothingness.

Her thoughts never just vanish like that. It was almost as if she was blocking him from replying, because they both knew he wouldn't let her go to him alone. She walks off from Link before he can stop her, and he is just left quite a few steps behind. Before going to follow her, he turns around and tells a still frightened, "I know you're gonna follow me, so don't get too close and stay very quite."

He follows Zee back out of the night sky through the archway and glass doors leading into a fairly well lit hallway. He sees her turn the corner that will lead to the entrance for the main dining room, and fallows as stealthily as he can once he hears her footsteps stop and no creaking of the large double doors. Knowing she must still be in that area he puts his back to the wall hiding as close to the edge as possible. Unable to see anything, he strains his ears as much as possible for any continuing sound. Only moments later Zee's voice is heard along with another. The voice as far as Link can tell is very aged and quiet, and yet powerful.

Across from Zee, in the middle of the hallway with his back to the double doors, a man was standing in a large black cloak. His deep hood draped down to his nose, and his lips were covered by a metallic mask, making his face look more like that of a lizard. His sleeves ran down his hands and tapered at the ends. Between the tapered bits of cloth his large fingertips were covered in black gloves, but still visible. The fabric of the cloak acted to absorb the light of a room while the gloves were much smoother and seemed to reflect some of it. The long cloak went down to the point where it could not be seen where the material stopped and his shadow began. His mere presence seemed to dim the lights and make the entire room a few degrees colder.

"Princess," He elongated the, "ss," sound just slightly. The cold voice echoed through the mask becoming slightly metallic, "My master would like an audience."

"I see," she replied, her voice didn't tremble at all trying to show no fear to the figure towering across from her, "then he should have come here himself."

"No dear princess, you must come with me, and__" He cut himself short and leaned his head back on his neck taking a breath as if he could sense someone else in the room.

Link could feel the eyes of this man, piercing through the walls where he was crouched eves dropping. He felt his body being lifted into the air by some unseen force. It wasn't painful, but he was moved in a most uncomfortable manner and dropped on the floor behind Zee.

The man continues, "Ah, so the hero is here too, my master will be very pleased by this turn of events."

Zee turned to see Link picking himself up off the floor and turned back uttering, "Zant."

"So your dreams and shadow remembers me, princess. Does this mean you will accompany me willingly to greet my master?"

She shook her head quickly at him in response and puts her hand out helping Link to stand strait up with her.

"She's not going anywhere with you!" Link replies for her.

"You do not know yet what either my master or I am capable of, princess." Neither his tone nor demeanor changed. At that moment he simply vanished into a shadow, then nothing. His voice then echoed through the hall way so it was impossible to know its origin, "You soon will, I promise."

Both Link and Zee turned around to see him standing near the wall behind them, rising out of the shadows. "Such a sweet little girl this one is," he says lifting his cloak that was draped to the floor uncovering Sarah, now frozen in fear.

Before Link could even consider any sort of action, he was overcome with rage, running full sprint at Zant. He pulled his left arm back, balling his hand into a tight fist. He thrust it forward aiming right for the chest, but when his punch made contact with Zant; Link felt an electric current running through his entire body. Next thing he knew, his back was hitting the wall and he fell to the ground. Zant simply stood there unflinching.

Still holding Sarah by her shoulder, he gave a long look at Link as who was sliding down the wall to the floor. "Impressive punch and left handed too. Indeed, you are the hero of legend. Yet, you lack even the strength to face me. This world you wish to live in has made you weak. Still, with a punch like that, you have some potential." he looks down to Sarah and back up to Link, "And now I know what will drive you to fight. Fortunately for you my master wishes you to be alive and become your true self. Therefore, your only punishment for attacking me today will be the sensation you already felt."

Link, still gasping for air, forces his body back to his feet. With what little strength he has left another charge is made at Zant. This time Zant makes a simple hand gesture while Link is still feet away. Link gets instantly held from his feet being held in the air completely immobilized.

Sarah, finally no longer frozen in terror starts struggling to break free of Zant's grip but to no avail. She screams at the top of her lungs, "Let go of my brother!" She even attempts to kick back at Zant's legs, but this just causes him to hold her still even further away.

"Silence child!" Zant's voice rises slightly for the first time, "My master said nothing of sparing your life!" Zant lowers his voice back to its original level, "However, I'm sure my master would prefer live bait for his hero, especially seeing how this one fuels him so."

Zee managed to keep her composure through this struggle takes two steps towards Zant and spoke in a tone that made her places as Zant's equal, or even as his superior, "Who is your master? And what does he want with me? …With any of us?"

"Princess__" Zant says almost consolingly but is instantly cut off by Zee.

"And why the hell are you calling me princess!?" she says showing slight irritation. Link could tell a lot more than anyone how annoyed she was. In the four years he had known her, she had never once used profanity.

Zant allowed her to finish but as soon as she was done, he continued as if she wasn't even speaking "__what position do you think you're in? You cannot demand answers from me of any kind!" After that Zant's voice lightened ever so slightly, "However I will show you the last two of those questions, and as for my master. Regardless of accompanying me of your own free will or not, you will meet my master soon enough."

Zant mad another hand gesture. This time instead of Link it was towards Zee. Her right hand was being pulled into the air as if from a string, and shortly after her whole body followed. She was a puppet now with all stings broken except for her right hand.

"Look close boy hero," Zant's turns quickly towards Link his eyes still hidden inside of it. "This is what the Princess of Hyrule has kept hidden from everyone, even herself. It's her royal birthright, and what's more it may very well be the last you ever see of her."

Link, who was still unable to move or even speak, had to watch Zee dangle helplessly from her own right hand, only feet away from him. She shuddered and cringed a little as a small glow started emanating from that hand. The faint noises in pain got worse and quickly turned into screams as a golden triangle was etched into the back of her hand. Tears came slow down the side of her face and turned into streams. The design looked as though it was burned or tattooed onto her skin, and yet also seemed to have been there her whole life.

Zant dropped his arm letting her fall to the floor. She collapsed and balled up caressing her one hand with the other.

Link, now filled with more rage than ever seeing the pain Zant inflicted on her, let out a bellowing scream at Zant and freed himself from that magical grip. Zant was too surprised by Link's sudden burst of strength to set up any sort of magical defense, but he still had another trick up his sleeve. Link ran at that shadowy figure again ready for anything he tries.

Zant snapped into physical action and held Sarah out in front of himself. She was now placed directly between Link and Zant making her into a human shield.

Without missing a step, Link jumped high into the air lifting his legs tucking them behind him over his sister's head. He pulled his fist back while in mid air almost sure to hit this time.

Zant reached deep into his cloak with the extra second he gained from using Sarah as a shield and drew a long thin claymore style sword from its sheath. In a blinding fast swing, the side of Zant's sword connected with Link's forearm that was rushing to Zant's face. Not even a second later, Zant's other fist hit Link's right leg causing him to rotate falling sideways still in the air. Link saw Zant's body spin with the cloak only slightly behind and take one more thrust with the claymore.

Link woke up seconds later to the simultaneous screams of both Zee and Sarah. He was gasping and struggling to breathe again. His head was throbbing, but he could feel no other immediate pain. He couldn't force himself back up to his feet this time. He was lying on his back against the wall with both Zee and Sarah directly over him, their tears falling from their eyes onto his face. Zee got very close to him so he could feel her breathing on him, and the warmth of her body against his. She kissed his forehead pressing her hand on his right side. As he noticed her hand there the pain sensations started coming back to him from right under where her hand was. It must have been Zant's blade that pierced him there. All the pain was now suddenly rushing back to him as he saw the blood staining his shirt surrounding her hand.

"Please come and save me some day. I'll wait for you," she whispered to Link's ear and kissed his cheek with one last tear drop where her lips just touched. She stood up with a new sense of determination and stood facing Zant. Her hand was opened so that the back of it was facing Zant so he could see the three triangles, "Your princess will accompany you to see your master, but you must spare the hero."

"Spare the hero?" he asked, his hood turning back and forth between her and him, "My dear sweet princess, make no mistake in my actions. I have no intention of letting the hero die here. All of my master's careful planning would be ruined." As he said that, his hand was lifted into the air. Something small and bright red in the shape of a heart drifted out from inside his sleeve and it slowly floated towards Link's body. As contact was made, it was absorbed into him, and his whole body was surrounded with white light. His wound instantly closed up and healed as if it had never even existed, and his strength had completely returned. He was still completely incapable of any movement.

Zant sheathed his sword and his shadow started spreading from his feet, expanding on the floor. It completely covered the floor running up the walls and on the furniture turning everything it touched completely black. The shadow made its way across the ceiling finally covering the chandelier and a thick blanket of darkness filled the entire room. Link's senses were worthless now. He could not see, hear or even feel anything.

Link's sense of time was even lost now. Seconds, maybe even minutes later, the chandelier light on the ceiling slowly sparked and flickered back to life. Light was restored to the entire room, but Zant, Zee, and Sarah were all completely gone. There was no trace or sign of them left behind at all. Link had no clue what so ever to go on. He looked down to his side showing only a small faint scar from that sword. There was no blood, not even on his clothing, and yet there was a smooth tear in the fabric.

Faint noises were in Links ears, intensified by the fact that they were not there for a long time and yet should have been. One was of the ships engines pushing the yacht through the water, and the other was the constant lull of the waves themselves.

"If the water had started again, then time should be unfrozen too," he thought to himself. Seconds later he stood back up with no effort at all, and he pushed through both doors into the dining room. There was a bustle and simple conversations at every table. Everyone was talking just as if nothing at all had happened. To everyone else it was like nothing did. He took a long sweeping glance around the room and his finally met with his mother's. She seemed to be the only person in the room that was showing any concern at all in her face. He saw some of his friends on another side of the room, all talking about unimportant stuff that would seem to matter a lot more to him only twenty minutes ago.

His eyes ran quickly back to his mother who had the unmistakable appearance of someone who had just lost something important like her set of keys. He moved quickly to her, sitting down in a pulled out chair still winded from what just happened in the hall. He felt more like he just finished a marathon instead of walking into a dining room.

"Link dear," she said slightly worried, "Have you seen Sarah? She was sitting right where you are not more than a minute ago and then she just vanished in thin air, like magic or something." She looked at him still breathing heavy and noticeably jumpy, "My god, Link, you look like you just had one of those reality is stranger than fiction moments."

She had no idea how right she was. "Sarah!... Zee!..." he manages to say their names between breaths. "Taken, Zant has__" but his voice tapered off and stopped. There was no way in his mind that she could have known what happened, or would have even believed it. Magic and shadow demons were all way too farfetched. He would be going straight from the yacht to the nut house if he indulged her further.

"Say that name again," Katie's face on the other hand changed instantly from a simple mild worry to almost fearful at what Link had just said.

"Zant?" Link replied quickly.

She had almost dropped the coffee she was sipping from at the time. She said out loud what she was thinking not intending for Link to hear, "Zant, than he must be nearby too."

"He!? Who's nearby!?"

Her thought continued despite Link's interruption, "No, that can't be right. Zant must be just under his orders. He is probably still too weak to come here on his own right now."

Link stood up gently putting his hands on his mother's shoulders, "Mom who are you talking about!? Is it Zant's master!?" Link shook his head really fast, "Who cares about that!? How do I save Zee and Sarah!?"

She seemed to have gathered her thoughts together and looked directly at her son, "Sit down Link."

"But Mom!" he was very irritated by what just happened and by the fact that his mother scared him by thinking out loud then was so calm.

"Link, Please. This will be the last time I see you for a very long time. She said as her deep blue eyes met his. There was more desperation and sadness in her voice than Link was used to hearing. He instantly let his body fall into that same chair again. The few people that were watching looked away happily engaged in their own conversations.

"I knew this day would come," she said to him just over a whisper. "I should have told you about it years ago, but I didn't think you would be ready, or believe for that matter, something like this. I hope you can forgive an overprotective mother."

"Don't worry about that now, Mom. Something more important is happening. Who is Zant?" he asked her slowly realizing that maybe he wasn't really crazy at all.

"He," she pauses only for a couple seconds trying to think of the best words to describe him, "is something of a shadow. His actual race is a Twili, and they are beings who live in the slight unbalance between the world of light and darkness. Long ago he was banished from the kingdom of twilight and now holds his allegiance to someone much more powerful."

"What does he want with Zee? He kept calling her a princess, and me a hero." Link looking to his mother with every question hoping she had all the answers. "He said that Sarah was only bait to bring out the true hero."

"Zee is the princess of legend?" Katie mind instantly starts processing what Link has just said and she continues, "Maybe she's a descendant of the princess. If that's true and you are the chosen hero, then you two are fated to be together. It makes perfect since you two have clicked ever since you have met." She shakes her head looking down, "Why didn't I see it before."

"What about his master?" Link asks the next question.

"He is a man from the desert who desires in the west of his homeland nothing more than power and conquest. He was always greedy for more even when he forcefully attempted to acquire the ultimate power of their world. His lust for power turned out to be his own undoing, and he ended up with only one of the 3 pieces of it. This evil being is now only known as Ganon. His full name is lost to the pages of their history.

Link shuddered at that name. It was as though and evil entity he had always known was waiting for him by that name. He wouldn't wait any longer, and had to stop avoiding the main issue. Two of the people he cared about most in his life were gone without a trace and he needs to be able to do something. "How do I save Zee and Sarah?"

"Come outside with me, Link. I'll show you what to do," she answered and they both got up and quietly walked out the double doors then the glass doors and archway where they met the warm summer sea air. The last time Link smelled the salt in the breeze was when he kissed Zee.

Standing next to a lifeboat near the bow of the yacht she pointed to a seemingly deserted island, and said, "Go there. I'll never forget that place. I can't say for sure what you'll see there, it's been sixteen years since I set foot on that island. There's a town on the near side of it. A woman named Impa lives there. She should be able to help you. You have to find her"

Link looked at the small land mass on the horizon. Rising strait out of the water was a dormant looking volcano, and everything at the base of it was jungle and cliffs. He turned quickly to her, "Mom, look at that place. Nothing's there, even if there was a civilization at one point it's completely abandoned by now.

"That island is the last remnants of the once great Kingdom of Hyrule. Being so close to it is probably how Zant found you two, but it would have happened eventually regardless." She looks down to Link and smiles, "You don't know that island like I do. It only looks dead from the outside. If you're not from that world then it's just a decaying piece of rock, but if you are from it as soon as you get close enough, you will see for yourself. You must go quickly before the boat passes it by."

"How do I get there?" He leaned over the railing, "It's still way too far to swim."

She gave him one last long hug then hit the small engine mounted lifeboat they were both standing next to while talking. He climbed into it quickly after the farewell hug and she lowered him into the water.

As it hit with a light splash he pulled away turning the power on and slowly glided on the water away towards the island. In the distance she notices the boat completely vanish from sight knowing that he just entered the world of Hyrule. It was a world that he was destined to be a part of, a world she longed to return to some day. She closed her eyes and knew it was the first steps of his long adventure.


	3. Port Kakariko

**Chapter 3: Port Kakariko**

Looking back over his shoulder, he saw all the bright lights of that yacht he graduated on only hours ago simultaneously go out. His body turned so he could more clearly see what happened, and it wasn't that the lights were gone. The whole boat had just vanished. He looked back to the once empty island, and saw that it now seemed to have a life all around it. Smoke was billowing out of the depths of the volcano. There were even many torch and fire lamps from a fairly decent sized town glistening on the water. Many old style wooden sail boats were sitting on the docks at the harbor in town. Everything about this island seemed to have a liveliness that was not there moments before.

He didn't want to disturb any of the surrounding land getting close to a small beach just outside of town, so he cut the motor. The currents finished the job for him pushing him the rest of the way towards the island. It seemed more as if he was being drawn into the island and wanted him to come. He even had a strange sense of belonging with this place. He looked at all the boats and buildings. All that was there were bricks, large stones, and planks of wood. Nothing at all about this town had a hint of modernization past maybe the renaissance era. With no electricity the only light was by flame, and the whole town smelt of a sweet burning ember. The larger of the ships still had no motors to move about the water or missiles to fire; just sails and cannons. He was even pretty sure that guns didn't exist here except for maybe single action rifles, which were more trouble than they were worth, compared to a skilled archer. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but somehow he felt at home here.

The boat hit the beach and he jumped quickly off onto dry land. Only two steps were made crunching the moist sand below his feet when he noticed the small life boat had drifted right back off the shore line and out to sea again. The current and undertow swiftly pulled it over a few unbroken waves, but then just vanished like everything else from that world he had left behind. Even his pockets suddenly felt lighter as his wallet, cell phone and iPod were gone too. He had nothing but his clothes, no ID, money, or a way home. All that stuff would do him no good now, since the town seemed much more a reality. The world he left behind, just a figment of his imagination.

At the end of the beach was a small narrow dirt trail. One end of it widened into a cobblestone road leading into the archway for a town on his right, and the other narrowed as it entered a dark forest on his left. The archway to town was what looked like the only way in. The rest of it had a stone wall all the way from the water until it made a sharp turn. All his senses told him that Sarah was lost somewhere in that forest, but Zee was somewhere else.

"Why," Link thought to himself, "why would Zant go through all the trouble taking Sarah in that forest and leave her behind, and yet take Zee to see his so called master."

It didn't make too much since to him yet, but to him, there wasn't a second path. He just came to save his sister and his love, and he wasn't about to stop and wait in some town. His clothes met the first bits of vines and shrubs and his foot landed on the huge log of a fallen tree just as his mind came to focus on the full spectrum of the situation. Zant was luring him in there. It was a trap and there were probably dozens of creatures in there that would tear him apart in a moment's notice.

He took a step back with the leg that was touching some of the woods, again thinking to himself, "Not yet. I can't go in yet. I need some way to defend myself. At least some type of weapon would work in a place like this." His other foot lifted off the forested area landing back on the road behind him, and not a moment too soon too.

Out of the corner of his eye, there was the orange glow of a flame streaking across the canopy of the woods. An arrow with flame on its tip was rapidly coming down and Link did all he could to duck out of the way. The arrowhead forced its way a few inches into the sand of the beach directly behind his left shoulder. A sound of grunting and snarling grew louder as it drew nearer to him.

From about twenty yards away, a four foot tall creature, the source of that disturbing noise, comes into view. Whatever that thing was, it was charging right at Link with a torch in its hand and a bow with a quiver of three arrows on its back. The strange beast stood on two legs but had a forward hunch to the way it stood. It had an ugly green face with an abnormally large and misshapen nose, and dull yellow eyes. Its clothes were this dirty brown color that were more just like rags torn off the last unsuspecting traveler that crossed its path. The thing gave more of a screeching noise as it got closer to the dead tree between them, holding the torch over his head to attack.

Link, whose fear at this point, was overcome with an uncontrollable rage over the thought of his kid sister being trapped in a place with the lot of these hideous things stood his ground waiting for his time to act. The creature leapt over the log making a downward swing, torch in hand.

Everything Link did was in a perfectly smooth and fast motion. His hand wrapped around the wrist of the creature that was holding the torch. His other hand gripped right on its inner elbow. With a spinning hip movement the creature was flung right over Link's back. As it was in the air the arrows dropped from its quiver and some shining stones fell from a pouch it had around its waist. Link used the momentum of the thing forcing it directly to the ground. Its crash landing was followed directly by Link giving a full force punch right in its chest. Link scrambled a few feet away on his hands and knees grabbing the arrow that was stuck in the sand. He then returned right to the creature impaling it directly where he thought its heart should be.

In a small burst and cloud of smoke and dust, it was gone. All that remained were the arrows and the shining gemstones that fell out of its pouch littering the ground. In total there were three blue ones and seven more green ones.

"Wow, I've never seen one of them beaten so easily like that before," a feminine voice from cheerfully speaks. Link turned on the spot to see a teenage girl with pretty brown hair that stops just below the shoulders. The roots had much more of a burgundy red color that slowly changed to a chocolate by the tips, and her eyes perfectly matched it. She had a white dress with black trim and a black apron tied to a bow in the back. The whole ensemble seemed more like a waitress outfit than regular clothes. She had a dagger drawn and was in a stance that showed her eagerness to fight that creature if Link had given her half a chance. She stood strait up cautiously walking closer to him. The hand holding the dagger ran behind her back then came in front of her body empty this time. The small blade always fits snug in a holder attached to her belt on the back of her waist.

"What was that thing?" Link asked dropping the arrow used to kill it.

"An imp," she answered.

"Imp?"

"A thieving wood imp," she added "Don't ever go into those woods unless all your valuables are strapped tight to you and your wits are even closer. They normally won't try to kill people, but you'll be robbed blind in seconds."

Link was grateful to at least now know what to call these things, but this girl seemed to love the sound of her own voice. A trait that Link knows may get annoying eventually, but in this situation it's probably better to have someone willing to talk and explain all the stuff he has no idea about rather than not.

He looked at the small burn marks where the dirt and sand met. There were few scorch marks there that too turned to dust and disappeared leaving nothing at all. He looked back up to the girl who had a perky smile, "Who are you?"

"Oh yeah, how rude could I be?" She says giggling then runs over to shake his hand excitedly, "Name's Malon. That's Malon not melon! My dad owns the pub in town. You'll get some of the best milk you can ever find there. It's shipped from his friends ranch, only the best stuff goes to him though. Ingo and my dad's family have been friends since the golden age of Hyrule. Back then my dad's family owned the ranch but our family was much better at bartending so we sold it to him. Both family's been friends ever since. Dad makes his own beer and wine too. Our family used to serve the royal family of Hyrule back then too, and__"

"Malon's fine," Link says stopping her with a smile, but she talked so fast Link really only took about every other word in. Half way through he was even wondering how she found the time to breathe in what she said, "and I'm__"

"Everyone knows you, you're the hero and you've come to save us from__" her voice shrunk so that he could hardly hear it like she was talking to herself, "But I thought that was just a legend" then her voice rose back up to that normal spunky level, "I'll show you the way to my dad, he'll know what to do, but he gets very angry if I'm out hunting Imps without my uncle."

Link picks up the strange colored gemstones off the dirt holding them in his palm, "what are these things?"

"Grow up under a rock or something?" she asked him and only continued to explain after Link's blank expression. "Sorry, I guess you're kinda touchy."

"No, I'm just new to this place."

"Ok, so anyway these things are rupees. You use them for trading, green ones are worth one and blue are worth five. So now in your hand you have twenty-two. The vault in town has a chart to show their values."

"Trading?" he pauses as the light bulb clicks on in his head, "Oh, you mean like money?"

"What's munnie?" she looks to him for approval on her pronunciation.

"Never mind, let's just get outta here. I think I hear more of them coming." Link responds understanding that she knows as much about his world as he does about hers. The grunts are making angry snarling noises way off in the distance. "We can see your dad and__" his voice stopped as they walked under the archway going into town.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Do you think he will let me stay the night?" His question was met by her blushing different shades of bright red in response. He quickly adds afterwards, "Oh no, not like that. I have a girlfriend. I was just asking if he might have a spare room for me to sleep in."

"No. It's ok," she said looking down. She had obviously gotten her hopes up about maybe there being some sparks between her and the hero for a minute. "You were always meant to be with the princess anyway." She takes a few more steps changing the subject, "Dad's bar has an inn on the higher floors. It rarely has many guests these days, so I'm sure he'll be able to spare you a room."

By this time Link was getting a little sick of everyone referring to him as hero, his girl as the princess, and whatever Ganon is, but he didn't want to hurt this girl's feelings. Especially considering right now she was his only friend in a strange world. "My name is Link, by the way."

She giggled a little more, "Even a hero needs a name, right?" I never really thought about it that way before. I guess you're a little different than what I imagined the hero would be. Don't worry it's not a bad thing." They stopped walking now at the wooden door to the bar and this while they stood there, this new line of thinking sparked a question in her mind, "Your name is Link, everyone knows Princess Zelda's name, so what is the Ganon's real name?"

"Ganon? I dunno," he replied, "The princess, back home her name was Elizabeth Hylia, but everyone knew her as Lizzie, but I always just called her Zee."

"Hylia?" This name rings some bells to her, "That's the name or the greatest freshwater lake in all of Hyrule. I'm pretty sure it was also the name of the royal family too, but I could be wrong on that last part."

"Don't worry about it."

They open the big wooden door to the bar stepping inside and shutting it quietly behind them. There were half a dozen empty round tables, each with four chairs that could possibly fit a fifth, spaced throughout the room and each one had a candle on it that was put out for the night. Evenly spaced throughout the walls of the bar were antique styled oil lamps that were all burning at a dim level. Along the left wall there was a shut door and then 3 more booth style tables. The right wall had a huge fireplace that was set up like a square so that there were actually two fireplaces around a corner from each other that rose up into one chimney. The whole thing was made entirely out of bricks which had a nice red hue to offset the rest of the dark brown wood cabin color. Link could not clearly see around the corner of the fireplace but it looked like there was one much larger oval table that could fit six or eight people. And he could at least make out the shadows or silhouettes of four or five in that area. The back wall across from the front door had a nicely polished bar, and another door which probably lead to the kitchen. The back and left walls each had a huge set of windows that could easily let ample sunlight in or show a beautiful starry sky, but all the curtains and drapes were tied shut. The entire room had a very homey and welcoming aroma as if hickory wood was burning in the fireplace.

Behind the bar was a pretty barmaid of her mid twenties who was asleep with her head on her palm leaning over the bar. Before Link could see past the fireplace someone walked out of that corner to check on the new arrivals. He was a fairly heavy set man, but you could not say he was fat. He had wavy red hair and a matching bushy mustache. Since the dull roar of that area went down as he left, Link could easily tell that he was a very loud and boisterous person who wanted nothing more than to entertain that entire group. After catching eyes with Link but not noticing that Malon was there the man quickly returned to the story he was telling to the people at the table.

As Link and Malon slowly wandered into the bar he caught a better glimpse of the people at that table all talking amongst themselves at the back table. They all looked as if they were warriors from different corners of the world and from different time periods too. The first one he noticed was a young woman of Asian, probably Japanese descent, who was wearing a light in weight red armor. The weapons, which looked like they never left her side were the traditional blades for a samurai; the Katana, the Wakizashi, and the smaller Tantō. Her braided dark hair went all the way down to the back of her knees.

The second person was a much older man, at least sixty, who still maintained a great amount of fitness and strength. He had graying hair and beard, but although it's hard to tell from the fact that he is sitting down, he was also a man of great stature. His chainmail armor, and the large battle axe leaning on the table next to him, suggested that he was from a middle age northern European descent. If Link had to guess he would probably say England or Germany. The withered expression and healed scars showed that this man had been in a great number of battles and always survived, but rarely walked away unscathed. It's just the fate of someone who always fights in the front lines.

Across from the samurai girl was a man of a very studious nature. He had a fine suit and tie with fine shoes and a bowler cap. His gold framed glasses sat perfectly on his face as he was pouring over a book that looked like it has been around since the dark ages. His demeanor showed that he had the ability to be a strategic and philosophic genius, but had no actual battle experience.

The last person he saw in the back part of the room, who probably looked like he was the leader, was a man of his late thirties. On his shoulder was a brown eagle perched ever so quietly and always taking in all of her surroundings. On his waist was a sheathed rapier style sword and on his back was strapped a longbow and a quiver full of arrows. His hair was mostly brown but slightly graying and he had a matching mustache and goatee. His face and body showed both the hardened look of a combatant and the gentleness of a loving father.

The heavy man, who turned back to entertaining the crowd after noticing Link, has his dark bushy mustache that seemed to wriggle as he was speaking. He happily passed them all a round of beer while constantly talking as if they were all the best of friends. However, the group's demeanor changed from pleasant while he was there to a focused nature. Link could easily tell their private discussion was something far more important and serious.

Malon yelled and gave a wave across the room to him as he did not notice her when he first turned to see who opened the door, "Dad!"

He abruptly stopped talking to the group and stormed over to where Malon and Link were standing in the doorway, belligerently yelling even after he was standing over her. "Malon, how many times have I told you not to be out past dark!? And now you're bringing strange boys over!? Have you completely lost your since girl!?"

"But dad, he's___"

"No 'buts,' if your mom gets wind of the trouble you're causing, she'll have you're…" He didn't finish that sentence, but instead started a new one, "Now it's off to your room this instant!"

She didn't contest it as he was glaring and his arm firmly pointed at the door on the left side of the room. She just ran following the direction of his arm strait for that door, face full with tears. She quickly swung that door open and slammed it shut behind her.

The man watched her leave then his whole body moved as he now directed all his attention on Link. The bar maid was not wide awake with her head still in her hand and her elbow still on the bar itself. The four at the table had even stopped their secretive conversation, all watching intently on the commotion. The man, after what seemed like hours of staring down and intimidation, finally spoke in a much lower, yet more forceful voice, "I don't know who the hell you are, but if I ever catch you anywhere near my daughter again…" His face got redder with every word he spoke until it almost completely matched his hair. To make matters worse the stare from the barmaid and the other four made him feel like a small child. His mustache wriggled to a halt when he was done yelling, "Now get the hell outta my bar!"

Link replied quickly before that man could keep ranting, and he made sure he was loud enough for the rest of the bar to hear, "Please help, my sister has been kidnapped and Zant took my girlfriend to his master."

There was a collective gasp around the room when the name 'Zant' came up. The man instantly stopped yelling and put Link's words together in his mind, digesting what he just heard and muttering the important bits to himself, but still out loud, "Sister… Woods… Girlfriend… Zant!! Not trying to get into my little girls skirt." His eyes narrowed as his thoughts kept going, "Woods… Lost Woods… Zant, one of Ganon's greatest lieutenants, Zant!? Zant's been revived!? For his master? His master is alive too." By this time the leader of those four was on his feet and closing in on them. Malon's father glared at link and started yelling again. "Boy, where did you hear this nonsense from!? I don't believe any of your lies! And I said OUT!" He bellowed the last word even louder.

"Wait, Talon," said the leader of the four resting a palm on his raised arm. The other three eyed him with curiosity as he examined Link. After minutes of saying nothing at all he held out his hand to Link giving a good firm handshake. Then he turned to Talon giving a hug. "My dear brother, your daughter has brought the hero among us I think." His voice quiet to Talon as though they were sharing a secret.

Talon's mood instantly became lighter and he looked to Link "I'm sorry my boy, one can never tell these days with Imps and evil men running about."

That man addressed everyone in the bar, except the bar maid, who had already turned promptly to her passed out state, "I want the boy to sit with us, we have much to discuss. Please Talon; have one more beer brought to our table and send Malon for Impa right away."

"Impa!?" Link sounded very excited to hear that name since it's his only lead to finding Sarah and Zee.

"Name ring a few bells, kid?" He spun around quickly, with his rapier in the air facing Link again.

"Well sorta. My mom sent me to find her so I can save my sister and my girlfriend."

He sat at the empty chair between the Asian woman and the aged warrior. Except for their leader, they all bombarded him with questions, which for the most part he had no idea of an answer for them. Most of them used terms he has never heard before and places he never heard of. Finally at long last she asked him how he ran into Malon earlier that night. She was obviously a little jealous of both his girlfriend and now Malon. Link quickly explained how he got off that little life raft and its vanishing act once his feet hit the island. He also talked about the encounter with the imp and how she was there when it happened and showed him the way to the bar.

All four seemed to be impressed that a teenager had defeated a wood imp while he was completely unarmed. They told him the vicious nature of these creatures, and how they take down and rob men blind that have a sword, shield, and full suit of armor. They also explained that Malon had a hobby of beating them with nothing more than a couple daggers and a slingshot.

"I taught my niece everything she knows about combat, kid," Laughed the man across the table but quiet enough that Talon wouldn't hear while he was cleaning up the bar.

The conversation continued around Link while he sipped his beer. Every so often a few more familiar terms seemed to fly around like 'princess,' 'hero,' Hyrule,' and Ganon. Some others like 'Triforce,' 'Temple of Time,' and 'Master Sword,' were thrown around too. His focus on the discussion drifted off and started to dwell on Sarah trapped and surrounded by Imps, and then to Zee who was a prisoner of Zant and his master. His mind focused more on the person that started this whole mess, Zant.

Zant's name ran back into his ears. He suddenly realized it was the husky voice of the man sitting on the other side of him from the girl with his battleaxe, "Hey boy!" Link got a nudge in his side, "You said that you saw Zant?"

"Yeah, he said that he needed me and my girlfriend, Zee…"

"My girlfriend and I." pointed out the other man as he lifted his head from the book and put it right back down."

"Whatever," Link continues, "Anyway, Zant said he needed us alive. He kept calling us hero and princess as if it were some sorta title."

"Called you the hero?" She replied inching closer to him curious and blushing a little too. "My name is Rose and if there is any help you need…"

She was cut short by the man on the other side of Link, "There's no proof this kid's the hero or that Zant lives, and you know full well we don't use name here."

"But this one's really cute." She said giving Link a soft smile and touching his leg with hers below the knees from under the table knowing that no one would see.

He finished his first beer allowing her advances, but he wasn't about to make any move on her of his own. He wasn't really all too amused by this recent turn of events. The only girl in his live that he was really taken by is now a hostage. And as soon as he shows up in this strange land two girls are hitting on him based on some title that he probably didn't even deserve.

The first thought that came to his mind was, "If Impa decides she wants a piece of the hero too, I'm just gonna head out tonight for my sister. Then I'll get Zee and take down Zant and this Ganon, or anyone else who gets in my way."

"I don't care if you think he looks as good as the original hero of legend, Rose. You're a trained warrior and you know better than pulling a stunt like that. And I still don't believe his story entirely yet. Some of it seems like a farce to me."

"Enough, Baron," the powerful voice of the normally soft spoken leader came across the table. "I have seen and heard enough to think this boy is speaking the truth. Oh and Rose, cut that out right now. You know the princess," he looks to Link, "sorry I mean Zee is the only girl he is meant to be with."

Her leg quickly stopped and slid back under her own chair. Her face had a shrug and this look of, "Well, it was worth a shot."

"There are no prying ears tonight so names are permitted for now. I'm Pete, you already know Rose and Baron, and he is Cid." He said hand gesturing to the man buried in this map and book he was studying.

"Pleased to meet-cha," Cid said looking up with a wave.

Link started looking in the direction of the map he was poring over. There were two others buried underneath that one. All three of them were slightly aged with tattered edges, but neither had any major creases. Link focuses on the top one which is in fact a very detailed view of the island he is now on.

He sees the town name right next to the beach and the wall where he entered the town from. Further to the west from the beach is The Lost Woods, where he suspects Sarah is. There are many exits and no clear path through except for one leading to a small town named Deku. The town is only a little ways in and after that there is no path to the deeper depths of the woods. In the center of the forest is Farore's sacred grove and an illustration of a very old and large tree. At the opposite side of The Lost Woods is a trail that leads up the mountain to its summit, and near this trail is a cave that is called The Sunken Caverns. The south-eastern part of town is a port, but on its northern end is a much larger trail that only leads half way up this mountain to the town of Goron. The mountain itself was very adequately named Death Mountain being still and active and ever erupting volcano.

Link got up to his feet and walked over to a much larger map on the wall where Death Mountain is just a small part of a much larger world. That small village of Kakariko is much further down at its base. At the center of this world was a large city surrounded by high walls and vast green fields. To the north of this city was a brilliant castle. Link could only imagine that if someone was in the highest tower he could see this entire land. In the northeast corner of the map there is the City of Zora and a small pond, and another mountain covered in ice. From there is a river that travels to the south-west traveling around the Hyrule Castle Town, then south and slightly east where it empties into a large lake. The name of this lake is an exact match to Zee's last name, 'Hylia.' To the west, there was only one bottle-necked entry point to a desert, which had a town of its own named Gerdu, a haunted wasteland, a temple, and a prison. The entire eastern side of the map from Death Mountain, around the Zora's city and ice covered mountain, and stretching all the way south to Lake Hylia was The Lost Woods.

The map itself was yellowing and had a thin dust covering. Its appearance looked so aged that it had probably existed long before the bar and the town surrounding it. It was kept covered by glass and in a beautiful golden frame to keep it protected.

An older woman's voice came from behind him, one that he had never heard before, but was sure it sounded familiar, "That was the once great kingdom of Hyrule." Link turned on the spot to see who had just snuck up on him. She was a woman who looked only a few years older than his mom, but her hair was much greyer than it ought to be. She had a deep royal blue outfit that in itself was slightly armored. In the center of the chest was a golden eagle with its wings spread standing on a perch. Below that were three golden triangles, one of them balanced on the tip of the other two so that there was an empty triangle space facing the opposite direction of the other three. This picture was the exact same and the image that appeared on the back of Zee's hand. Link remembered it being referred to as the Triforce.

"This small handful of islands is all that remains," She added.

Before he could reply she stopped him from speaking with a wave of her hand. She gave him a long inquisitive stare. Her brown eyes seemed to pierce directly into his soul. She looked up and down doing a full circle around him making sure not to miss any detail of his appearance. "My, how you've grown," she mutters under her breath.

She finally stopped and addressed everyone else sitting at the table. "He is not in league with the enemy, and he carries a good courageous heart in him, but…" She lifted his left hand which has no mark on the back of it, "…but, without the Triforce of Courage I can't say that he is the hero as he stands now. I will say that he has a great deal of potential, but he isn't ready to carry that burden yet."

She turns back so she's facing him, "My name is Impa. I'm a long descendent of those that protected the royal family of Hyrule." I hear you have a story to tell, and I'm sorry if I'm making you say it again, but I must know how you got here." There was warmth in her voice that made Link feel completely safe confiding in her.

The original table of four now included Link and Impa, but Pete was in the kitchen with Talon cleaning up the cooking mess from earlier that evening. A fresh round of beer was put in front of them by Talon before he and Pete went into the back room. All the torches were now out except for the few illuminating the table they were all sitting at. The fire also remained on since it was the heat for the rest of the building.

They all sat around the table with Impa in the chair that was previously occupied by Pete. Link explained all the events that lead up to him being here. As he re-accounted the tale the other three sat and listened as if it were their favorite childhood story. Impa, on the other hand, was deep in her thoughts, taking in every word. His recollection of the encounter with Zant went uninterrupted, but when he went to the conversation with his mother, it became apparent that he didn't know how she could have possibly known so much.

"Your mother, what was her name?" Impa asked almost immediately.

"Katie," he answered.

"Oh, she is an amazing woman. She fled with her husband and newborn to a world outside this one. The one that co-exists with ours, but it has no knowledge of our ancient magic. She left when the evil bird, Helmaroc, resurfaced. It attacked her relentlessly for her child but no one really knows why. As far as she was concerned your safety was worth leaving our magical world and all of her friends and family behind. I'm glad to see they all made it to your world safely."

"Has anyone else ever escaped to my world safely?" he asked.

"Rumor has it a pirate girl named Tetra did many generations ago. She was supposedly the last surviving part of the royal family bloodline," Cid answered from his seat. "Some say our world started to decay away to nothing ever since her exodus."

Link continued his explanation about the Imp in the woods and how, with Malon's help, he finally found his way here. It was about this time that Talon and Pete left the kitchen and pulled up two extra chairs sitting at the table.

"Link, in the morning I will show you what my family has hidden for generations. It is very dangerous, but if you are the hero, you must come with me." Impa's eyes rose addressing the rest of the table, "Thank you all for bringing this remarkable young man to my attention. Talon, I trust you will give him acceptable accommodations tonight.

"The finest I can offer, my lady," he answered.

She looked back to Link and said, "Young man, I will see you at dawn. After you have seen my family's secret, you should first head west into the Lost woods and rescue your sister. I have much more to tell you before you attempt to save your love. Sleep well, hero." She turned, and walked to the door as quietly as she came in.

Talon lead Link through the door Malon ran through earlier and up a flight of stairs, speaking to him the entire way. "Strange woman, that Impa. This bar is a safe house she set up for us. She was the first person to believe Ganon had resurfaced when Helmaroc was sighted." They got to the second landing and went about halfway down a short hallway. He turned a key unlocking a door. "This is your room. The washroom is at the end of the hall. If you ever need a day's rest this room will always be reserved for you," he said dropping the key into his hand. "Get a good rest tonight; you'll need all your strength with you tomorrow.

* * *

Zee was sitting in a quiet, damp, and dark dungeon trapped inside what looked like a human sized circular bird cage. There was an apparent lack of noise in the rest of the room from the other possible inmates which lead her to believe that either no one else was in there with her, or they were all dead. The only light was a small flicker from the room next to this one with a cracked open door. Creeks of the floorboards and other doors opening and shutting all happened when some shadows moving and she strained her ears for voices.

The first one she heard, she distinctly remembered as the cold quiet voice of Zant. With his was one that was for scratchier than the first. It was one that would always sound angry even when the man wasn't in the foulest of moods.

"Sir," said Zant, "Do you really think it's wise to let that boy wander free? What if he doesn't even show?"

"Nonsense, he will travel to the end of the earth for my handpicked hostages. My spy already informed me that he is on the island," replied the voice.

Zee's hand was still throbbing in pain from the Triforce appearing there only hours earlier. The news of Links being already on his way to her lightened her heart and gave her a small smile from inside her cell. Even with the pain and the good news she maintained her composure to stay quiet and listen further.

"What about that child? His kid sister, why waste the effort to bring her along, and why dump her in the lost woods to be transformed into a Kokori sprite?" Zant asked.

"To drive the hero's rage. You left her in Farore's grove and assured the forest transformation went smoothly, correct?"

Yes, my lord, the Grunts and their king, pathetic creatures, should prove more than a worthy test for his initial skill. They are already out on patrol of The Lost Woods to assure he engages them in combat. Narrow minded warriors such as them still have many uses for us."

"Very well, should he survive, his true test will be my phantom when he attempts to wield The Master Sword. It will escape its prison with the rest of my power once that accursed blade is removed from its pedestal. Should this one survive, I still have a use for my puppet. That supposed hero will seal his own fate this time."

"Sir, what will become of those three children," said a third voice which was masked and distorted. Zee had never heard a voice like that one before. It was a terrifying voice like that of a dark sorceress. In fact the only thing she could distinct for sure was that it was the voice of a woman.

Zant quickly snaps back at her, "What do you care, spy?"

The scratchy voice simply laughs, "His fate matters not to me. After I get my Triforce, I don't need the lot of them. I could easily just send them all back to that world from whence they came, but I do believe a punishment is in order for the princess and hero that always defied me."

"Sir, how long shall I lead him by the nose and just beyond his sight, my lord Ganon?" The metallic woman's voice asks.

"Bite your tongue!" Answers Zant full of spite, "You, who are a spy whose loyalty can never be trusted to any cause, cannot utter my master's name. That is a privilege only to those who are truly loyal."

"My loyalties run much deeper than you realize, imbecile. You are just as narrow minded as those Grunts you hate so much, I wonder sometimes if you were originally one of them and not of the proud and mighty Twili race." Answered the Spy

"How dare you question my home? If not for my master you would be dead where you stand!" Zant answers even more aggravated. "And yet, you still bring no proof of such loyalties, only empty promises."

Ganon spoke up over the two of them, "The hero, he who has thwarted me thrice now. I will enjoy crushing him under the weight of his actions and transgressions against me. His end will come by his own beloved master sword."

"His sister too, sir?" asked the spy with no hint of emotion.

"She too, and the princess will be a part of his pain. After I have the full power of the Triforce, and have my wish, I will wield the master sword, and have no use for any of their bodies. Watching those two be tortured and killed before he dies will shatter his soul. Without a soul no future hero's can ever follow in his footsteps," he answered with a flare of relish in his voice. "So we need this hero alive until his bitter end."

Zee felt a complete emptiness in her heart hearing their plans. She closed her eyes tight whispering to herself, "Link, my sweetheart, go home and don't ever come for me. As long as you and Sarah are safe…" Hearing the footsteps coming very close to her cage she stopped talking frozen and silent.

She opened her eyes and was so terribly close to this man now she could feel his hot disgusting breath on her skin. From the light of the room behind him she could see some of what he looked like. He was easily an eight foot tall giant in heavy black armor with blood red trim, and a long cape of the same color. His eyes were a wicked red color and where there should have been white was all black. The rest of his dark sand swept face was covered by a scruffy maroon red beard, which matched the hair on his head. He had a very large white sword at his waist that looked as though it had seen more battles than the earth had to offer.

He gave an evil smile then whispered loudly to her so the other two in the adjacent room could still hear, though his words were directly to her, "Good princess, always putting your people first, even when all hope is lost."

He turned on his heel quickly, his cape fluttering high behind him from the wind created in his wake. With a terrible laugh, he walked off and slammed the door behind himself so she couldn't hear anything else except the latch of the lock. Everything now was completely dark.


	4. The Temple of Time

**Chapter 4: The Temple of Time**

Link was trapped in a small caged room he did not recognize. Everything was so dark that he could not see any landmarks about the room. There were voices coming from a nearby torch lit room, but no actual words could be distinguished. All that could really be interoperated is that they all sounded malevolent.

A new voice quickly filled the air in his mind. The voice was very soft and sweet, it was one that he already missed hearing for what seemed like days now. He could instantly tell the words were coming from Zee, but she was nowhere to be found. Through the overwhelming shadow in the room, he was prevented from seeing much past his own nose. The voice also seemed really sad and scared like she was the one trapped in this cage and not him.

Her words that filled his mind were, "Link, go home. Don't ever come for me, as long as you and Sarah are safe___" and it trailed off to nothingness. Link suddenly felt a sudden extreme since of fear and dread as though all hope in the world was gone.

His mind faded and soon everything vanished to the white pillow at his head, and the warm blankets surrounding him. The sun crept through the window of his bedroom. The warmth of the summer day was carried in by a gentle breeze which filled the room. Half expecting to hear his mom call him down for breakfast, he slid out of bed. His feet touched a wooden floor, and not the carpet he was so used to. His eyes focused around a room which was completely different from the one he woke up in his whole life. The sudden realization came to him that all the events yesterday weren't just a dream and he really was far away from home, a stranger of this world, and that his love and his sister were really taken hostage. He wanted it so much to be just a bad dream he thought it might actually happen.

His momentary feeling of dread was stopped abruptly by the sound of footsteps scurrying to a stop at his door and an even faster tapping on it. He was sitting up on the bed at this point about to get his legs to a full stand. Malon bursts through the door into the room, and sprints past him in a blur of a person sitting in the middle of the bed. Link, who just finished standing up, was completely dumbfounded wearing the t-shirt and shorts he crashed out in.

Today she isn't wearing that waitress outfit but instead she's wearing a clip in her hair so that it stays back on her head which had a flower on it of the same deep red color as her hair. The rest of her clothes seemed to be something that would be really comfortable to wear. She could get a good work out hunting imps and all sorts of other creatures in and still have the look of a girl you could take out somewhere decent. It was a fairly tight top to keep those front girl features from moving around too much colored in a combination of a red and purple fabric that went down to just below the waist. The shorts she was wearing, which were really short to allow for running and combat, were just purple and she had them held in place with a red colored belt. Her shoes were to Link's best guess a medieval equivalent to sneakers.

She starts talking to him in the same mile-a-minute tone she was using the night before, "Link! Link! Glad to see you're awake! Ya gotta save the world today!"

Link lets out a low really tired ugh noise and makes a wobbled walk to his chair where his jeans and button-down shirt are neatly leaning on.

"Oh, don't worry about them," she said looking at the direction he was walking, "Impa has some really cool clothes you need to wear. She says there's some magic in it that was put on them by an ancient tree of the forest, and it can hold tons of stuff in their pockets, and they blend in with the woods too! And…" She seems to stop in mid thought facing him again, "Wow, you're really hott, I never thought the real hero would look this good."

Link wakes up a little further, rubbing his eyes, and giving a small blush. He sits back on the bed a few feet from her. She quickly slides on the bed right next to him so that her left hip is touching his right, "Are you sure the princess would mind if I had you until you rescued her?" Her hand was now on his leg inches above his knee and her nose came just short of touching his own. Her dark green eyes were staring into his blue ones.

They both hear the slow cracking noise from up stairs and turn their heads up to the ceiling to where it's coming from then to the open door she just ran through.

"Sorry, but I'm not interested in anyone else, but you seem like a really sweet girl," he replies trying hard not to hurt her feelings, as he picks her hand up off of his leg and sets it back on hers.

"I kinda knew you would say that, but I had to try one more time," she said back to him in a whisper. The crackling noise from the ceiling moves to the landing of the stairs above them and down each step one at a time so that every step is slightly louder as it gets closer. She continues her loud whisper to him, "Oh no! It's my dad, I gotta run!"

She darts off to through the door and shuts it fast but grabs it at the last second to keep it from slamming then pulls it shut silently. Link mouths the words, "See ya later," but by that point she was already gone.

She quickly opens the door again putting only her head through, "Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you all my friends call me Lynn because of all that 'Malon--melon' crap. I only really like my dad and uncle to call me Malon." and she pulls her head back through and this time he can hear her feet scurrying as she runs off.

Link clears his head of her most recent set of advances on him, and walks to the window to get a good view of the town in the daylight. There is a central town square area with a fountain in the middle. All the businesses surrounded that area, but everything still was very quaint compared to the big city he was used to. He could see groups of people moving to their daily jobs. Through the crowds, he saw Impa moving purposefully towards the bar with something almost all green neatly folded in her right arm. She glanced up at the window giving a small smile to Link as she draws nearer to and inside the bar.

Moments later she arrives in his room. She silently hands him the green outfit she was carrying so meticulously. While putting it on, he is amazed at how such a strong fabric can breathe so easily and allow for a full range of motion. It has three pockets; one for money, one that can hold only three things for convenient use, and a third one. This one seems to have some magical enchantment on it where on the outside it looks like a normal pocket, but inside is practically a bottomless pit. It can carry as much as he wants of whatever he wants. The only major flaw with that big pocket is that it's much too difficult to have anything ready to be used in it.

"This tunic has been worn by every hero known to face Ganon," Impa explains to him, "It might not look like much but the ancient magic in it will never fade so long as the Triforce of Courage exists. I see you've already noticed the pockets. That big one has an infinite amount of space inside it but you can only use three things aside from your sword and shield that you can take into a fight with you. Keep the rest of your stuff in that other pocket. Do you understand?"

Link gives a slight nod, "I think so."

"Good. You need to take this too." She pulls a sword still in its sheath off her back. The hilt is made out of a strong dark wood which has been reinforced with metal. Link pulls it slightly out of the sheath revealing the symbol from Impa's armor on the blade and slides it back in. She says while he is examining the sword, "This blade is named Sheik after one of the greatest of my people"

"Sheik?" asked Link, the name first brought to mind an image of a fat, rich oil tycoon, but after looking into his reflection in the sword, images came into his mind of a girl, about his age, wearing armor similar to Impa's. Her face was kept hidden except for her eyes and some small amount of blond bangs that almost reminded him of Zee.

"The first time Ganon attacked our world he won and controlled everything for seven long years while the hero was sealed away by the master sword. During that time Sheik stayed in hiding until the hero came of age and was awakened. She helped him to free the six sages from within the great temples of Hyrule and helped to defeat Ganon. After the fight she imparted a small part of her sould into this sword. Her magic is still inside to this day, and that's why it will never become dull, never chip or shatter."

Link pulls it fully out of the sheath. The sword looks perfect as though it has never been used. The sun shining in from the window catches the blade reflecting across the length of it. The sword itself is about three and a half feet long, and for the strength it held, it was surprisingly light weight. He gave a couple swings through the air even more impressed with how well the weight was balanced through to the hilt. He closes it safely back in its sheath and straps it to his back so he can grab it from over his left shoulder.

"This sword is a treasure of my family. It has been used to protect the kingdom ever since its forgeing during the times of the very first hero," She says having to reluctantly part with it.

"I'll Keep it safe and hopefully make everyone else who wielded it proud," he replies trying to be assuring.

"You already have, my dear boy. Now you look just like the legendary hero."

Together they made their way down the stairs and out of the bar into the town square area. They walked directly across the cobblestone center of town and up a street to the north which leads to another stone wall and archway. The sign at this exit says, "Death Mountain Trail," and beneath it, "Goron City." Just to the left before the archway is the only building made out of stone and marble in the town. There are large stain glass windows along the side walls with no real pictures on any of them. The entire building looks like an old church, complete with gargoyles and a bell tower.

They go inside through one of the double doors and pass by the rows of seats making their way strait for the front where there's an altar with a nice wooden table. On one of the sides there is a huge pipe organ. There are none of the usual religious symbols anywhere. No crosses or statues, but just a golden Triforce symbol directly behind the altar.

Impa whispered to him, "Wait here," and walked over to the old beautiful instrument. She played a melody that Link instantly recognized as the same one him and Zee would sometimes sing and hum to each other. Brought back from his memory, he hears a grinding noise as the altar table moves revealing a trap door.

"Have your sword ready, Link. This cave is swarming with keese and skultulas," she warns pulling the latch on the trap door. They both climb down the ladder trying to see anything in the darkness of the pit.

"Keese? Skultulas?" He asks while reaching back wrapping the fingers of his left hand around hilt. As he holds his sword at the ready he sees a black creature flying towards him. Its fluttering wings and squeaking noises made him think it was a bat, but it was much bigger and more vicious.

Link closes the gap on it and slashes strait down so that the blade goes straight through it. Its body disappears in a small explosion just like the imp did the night before. All that's left behind is a single green rupee.

"That's a keese. It's nothing more than a bat whose size and ferocity has been enhanced and warped by Ganon. Skultulas are the same but with spiders instead of bats," answers Impa approving of his actions and reflexes.

Impa closes the trap door behind her making the cave almost pitch black. He walks cautiously over to the second source of light, a small hole in the ceiling of the cave. It illuminates one round section of floor that has a small pedestal. Link brushes the dust off the top and sides of it. The top has a small slit about the size of a sword. On the front is a Triforce symbol in shimmering gold and a transcription directly below it.

_Only the Hero or the Sheikians_

_can activate this pedestal._

_Your sword shall be proof_

_of your worth._

Link instinctively unsheathes Sheik holding it blade down over the slit in the pedestal. Impa, standing back with her arms folded gives a nod of approval. He thrusts the sword down into the slit until it stops against the bottom. The sunlight off the sword reflects a few feet off in six directions. Moments later torches surrounding the pedestal spark and start crackling a magical red flame. More torches spark to life showing a long stairway down deeper into that cave that have another torch each tenth step. The torches give enough light around him to see the cave is more a great hallway, but the darkness and mist in the cave block from seeing more than four sets of torches down the lonely flight of stairs.

They slowly make their way down the winding steps. Link has the lead with Sheik in hand, and an unarmed Impa following close behind. She starts explaining the cave to him.

"Thousands of years ago, the third time Ganon returned to Hyrule the gods would not allow the birth of a new hero. Instead they left messages for all the good people to flee to the mountains, and flooded the world. The three goddesses realized the importance of the Temple of Time and the sacred realm. Nayru, the goddess of wisdom, placed her love around the temple, shielding it from the water filling around it."

Moving further down the torch lit passageway, the ceiling opened up revealing the water swirling overhead. A magical barrier was protecting him from the vast ocean above. "Din used her power to strengthen the Nayru's Love enchantment and her fire also provides the constant torch light to those worthy enough to be here.

"And Farore?" Link asked as though he knew the pages she was reciting from, and she was about to get to his favorite part.

"You'll see, young Link." Impa replied, "Did Pete or Katie tell you of the goddess's names?"

"No, Mom never said anything about this world, and I just met Pete last night so he didn't really have time to tell me anything. I never heard that name before, but I just know it. It's just like how Zee knew Zant's name without ever meeting him before."

"Farore is the goddess of courage. Her powers lie deep inside you waiting to surface. She is a part of you and I think that is how you know her. You are the hero, and you know more about this world than you're letting yourself think."

The water rippled against its magic barrier above Link's head only lit by torches. No daylight could penetrate the dark murky water. There was no wind to push the stagnant air through the caves. They were circling down Death Mountain. Over the side of the stairs, the original Kakariko Village came into view far below. The few houses surrounded a windmill and an old water well, but the town as a whole was much smaller than the bustling port in its place above it.

Closer to the town Link noticed that it was completely swept with death. Strange dark creatures were sitting along the ground all over the town. Each of them had the appearance of corpses, festering as they stood there. Among them were small torch lanterns hovering constantly a few feet over the ground. Link stood blankly staring at the cadavers. It seemed he could even hear and feel them moaning and groaning below him.

Impa spoke up her eyes following what he had a mile long stare at, "Redeads, Link. Their scream is said to petrify a man's soul in fear before they strike. They're always trying to take the life and soul right out of you. Should you fall to one of them, you will end up a terrible existence, just like them." He felt cold and weak just by looking at them listening to her explanation. "The venom in their bite is fatal, but the worst part comes after you die when you arise as one of them. Only the hero is immune to their poison, and holy he is known to survive its attack. Their movements are very lethargic so it's far more prudent to avoid them all together, but once within earshot, there is little that can be done."

Just north of the town is a small graveyard that was hidden behind the windmill. Although the redeads were gone from that area, but there were at least a dozen more lanterns hovering around the headstones. Every so often he caught a glimpse of the partially transparent being carrying it.

"Those are poes, ghosts and apparitions of the people from ages past. All any normal person can see of their existence is the white or colored flame they have to carry with them. Dogs and wolves are always in tune to their presence."

"Are they bad?" Link asks.

"Some are," she answers, "Those poor souls haunt one area for all eternity. If killed, they simply cease to exist, so they defend that spot with everything they have. Very few of them retain the memory of their past existence, and those ones if defeated will surrender to maintain their existence. They may even attempt to communicate with you and help you."

Their conversation was interrupted by a few attacking keese. Link easily took them out picking up the rupees left behind.

"Link, don't move!" Impa's voice came from behind loud and forceful. "It's a skultula!"

His eyes followed immediately on what she was looking at. A small piece of silver thread was hanging strait in front of him. Before he could react a loud scratching noise filled his ears and a spider crawled down the thread only inches from his face.

Its large body spun in a quick circle with all eight of its legs out. They hit his body hard knocking him back to the stairs. As he was falling, a mettle chain flew over his shoulder from behind, the hook on the end of the chain hitting that creature. The skultula fell off of its silk line and as it hit the ground, its body disappeared in a cloud of dist. The metal item coiled itself back up inside a crossbow looking device Impa was holding.

"Where do I get one of those?" Link asked looking at it.

She smiled, "This is a hookshot. It's a one of a kind sheikian weapon, and I cannot part with it." She says sliding it back into her pocket.

A soft white light was seen around the next bend of the mountain. Link felt a strange warmth and sanctuary in its glow. He sheathed his sword stepping down the stairs into the light. Blinded for just a second his eyes refocused on its source. It was a small pure white star just below the dome of water. Its reflection shimmered all the way down the surface of the water directly onto the structure far below. A large cathedral was there made out of perfect white marble. Its door in the center had, on either side, two towering stain glass windows. This one building looked far larger than any of the cathedrals back home in New York, or any other part of the world for that matter.

Impa explains this huge structure as they move for the doors, "You have reached the Temple of Time. Farore has kept her light on it for over a thousand years waiting for your return. This ground is sacred, and those doors will only open for the hero or a descendant of the six sages of Hyrule. This enchantment was placed upon it by the goddess of courage herself."

Finally at the bottom of the long flight of stairs, he walked up to the doors of the building bathed in the light. The doors opened as he drew nearer, inviting him in across the threshold.

They shut firmly behind him and Impa as they walked into the vast main hall. The ceiling was far higher than any he had ever seen with class and crystal chandeliers reflecting the light from Farore's star. The floor was made entirely out of black and white marble with a raised hexagon shaped seal in the center. The seal itself had golden and black marble tiles on it in the shape of a Triforce.

Link was looking around at the walls as he passed over the great seal towards the altar at the end of the hall. There were pictures in the stain glass windows, and each one told its own story. On the left wall there was a depiction of the hero in combat with a massive evil boar. The battle was waged over three detailed pictures, the final one where he had thrust a sword into the demon. There was only one subtitle for these three pictures.

_The Epic Battle,_

_Ganon and the Hero,_

_Eternally Bound,_

_In Combat._

On the other side was one picture of six great beings in a room filled with light. Each one was on a pedestal surrounding the seal of the Triforce where a woman stood holding golden glowing arrows. That center area looked the brightest of all

_The Six Sages_

_Protectors of Hyrule._

_The Princess of Destin._

_Together they Banished Ganon_

_To the Void of the Sacred Realm._

The final picture on the right was he noticed was another being in large black armor. His face was hidden in shadow, but his eyes were piercing far more than Zant's and this was just a picture. He had a long black cape and was shrouded in terrible dark magic. Link read the caption for this window slowest of all.

_Ganon in Hylian Form_

_The Man From the Desert_

_The Evil Gerdu King:_

_Ganondorf Dragmire_

Link backed away from that image walking to the end of the front hall, skipping the third image, where he found a large stone altar table with three magical stones, each in their respective spots. Behind the altar were three sets of doors, the middle set opened. Between the doors were two stone statues of knights at least ten feet tall. They stood there, somber, constantly watching the room with their huge swords in their hands and the tips in the ground between their feet. He checked and made sure the other two sets of doors were shut tight. Behind the left door he could almost feel the voices on the other side flowing into his mind, "Return here when you can wield the master sword."

At that moment the two stone statues moved their heavy arms lifting their swords and placing them back down blocking the passage of either of the two side doors.

"Your only path is straight ahead, Link" Impa says from behind him, her arms still folded across her chest and she looked from him to the open doorway in the center. "In there is what I need to show you."

This new room is smaller, but with a much higher ceiling than the main hall. In the back was a tall clear window shining a bright constant light on the center of the room. There were two concentric raised hexagon sections, each one a foot higher above the area surrounding it. The outer one was about thirty feet across and the inner one only about ten.

At the very center was another sword pedestal. Placed in this one was a beautiful sword with a blade that was still perfect. At the end of the blade near the hilt was a Triforce symbol forged right into the metal. The hilt itself was a metallic blue that had no signs of wear. The blade was held perfectly up by the pedestal which also had a darkened Triforce symbol on it.

Only inches away, Link noticed something terribly wrong. The sword looked watery and transparent as if it were merely a ghost of the once great sword. His hand passed straight through the hilt of it as he reached out. His grip felt nothing but cold air.

His look went back to Impa who replied in a voice just as cold, "Worry not, hero, for the master sword is there. You are not ready yet to attain it."

"Why did you bring me down here then, if not for this sword!?" he asks very aggravated.

"So you can find your way back here without me when the time comes. After the hero frees the spirit of each goddess, he can only then attain the master sword," She said that last part as if she had just read it off an ancient tomb. "Farore's is hidden in the forest temple of the Lost Woods."

"Lost Woods!?" This name was already very familiar to Link by now, "Sarah!"

"This is all the help I can give for now, with one last piece of advice. You will need a shield to protect you from the arrows of the imps. You stand no chance of saving your sister without it."

As Impa was speaking, Link gave one final look at the master sword. He could almost feel its power as his hand passed through it, almost to the point where that blade alone would even the odds against Ganon and Zant. He had a longing to wield it and deep down, he knew that one day he would. Someday which was both very soon and still far off from today the sword would be his. He walked slowly to the way back out of the temple to the caves stopping on the seal in the center of the main hall.

As he stood there he heard Impa's voice fading as she said her final words, "Save your sister and awaken Farore's spirit. I will see you again…"

Link turned on his heel as fast as he could. "Wait!" escaped his lips. Halfway into the turn there was a snapping sound followed by a blinding flash of light. When everything dimmed back to the normal glow of the temple she was gone. His thoughts still lingered on her last words placing more importance on the rescuing Sarah than the awakening of Farore. He turned again on the seal in the temple and ran out of the temple.

* * *

Impa leaned against corner of the temple. It was the only shadowed area she could remain hidden while watching Link run out.

She walked silently past the windows, the first one which had all the sages in the chamber of light, and then past the dark one of Ganondorf stopping between it and the window Link skipped over. It displayed the six sages on a mountain peak overlooking the beautiful countryside.

_The Six Great Sages_

_Watching All the Land of Hyrule_

_From the Top of Death Mountain_

She places the tip of her finger on that window where a woman who looks similar to her in most respects is standing. The woman, her ancestor, the sage of shadows has a slight glow emanating from her area of the window. "I showed the hero the master sword and told him of the quest he would have to travel to attain it."

A female voice replies to her from within the window she just touched, "Well done my dear. So much of our world's future rests on the shoulders of that young man."

"Do you think that he's the hero?" Impa asked her?

"Much is uncertain. We both know that there has never been any blood relation connecting any of the hero's. Fate and not lineage decide that," the sage in the window reminded.

"I know. He is the son of my sister, Katie."

"The glass was now brighter still as if the sage in the window was glowing with pride, "He has the potential of becoming an even greater hero than any of his predecessors; great enough to put an end to Ganon forever. The six of us have felt that much for curtain, but unfortunately this may have a much greater price on his soul, the princess, we six, and the entire land of Hyrule."

"I will keep a watchful eye on him until you and the others are free of the sacred chamber of light to act as needed." Impa assures the sage.

"Watch carefully, but always from a distance mind you. You must not interfere, only he can awaken the goddesses after passing their tests. Otherwise, all will be for not."

"I understand." Impa trembles a little.

"Impa, my last descendant," the window says with a slight pain in her voice, "I have become very weak as a sage and my time grows short. Soon I will have to pass the torch onto you." Impa stood still in a surprised silence. "You need to journey inward to awaken your soul as the sage of shadows or it may be swallowed by darkness."

Impa said nothing and moved very slowly out of the temple. Her heart and mind filled with the fear of being among the great sages of Hyrule.

Inside the temple of time the shadow and darkness around Ganondorf's face cleared showing a terrible smug smile. He has just overheard everything that has transpired.


	5. Imps and Grunts

**The Legend of Zelda: Remnants of a Lost Kingdom**

**Rupee Color Chart:**

**Green: 1**

**Blue: 5**

**Yellow: 10**

**Red: 20**

**Purple: 50**

**Orange: 100**

**White: 200**

**Black: 500**

**Silver: 1,000**

**Gold: 5,000**

**Brown: devalues all current rupees to nothing**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 5: Imps and Grunts**

Link made his way quickly back up the path to the surface. This time the entire cave was littered with keese, and there wasn't an empty spot on the wall due to smaller crawling skatulas. Even the ground had a gushy, slimy blob looking thing trying to attack him.

As he climbed the stairs, he stayed to the center to avoid the skatulas on the wall. It seems for every keese he killed; three more appeared in its place. He constantly had to wait for them to come into striking distance which was very dangerous because of their attacks. They would stay about six feet away then swoop in like a dive bomber. Most of the ones he did hit would dire on impact leaving more of those green stones in their wake.

Those slime creatures were possibly the most difficult. When hit, it would merely split into two smaller versions of itself and become far more troublesome. If left alone the small ones would merge back together like drops of water. Worse than that, their gelatinous shape made them almost impossible to hit. He manages to strike the smallest one and it splashed into a goopy puddle on the ground. Small amounts of the liquid landed on Link as his sword went through that small one. He expected it to hurt, burn, or possibly even numb the affected skin, but instead he felt a strange warmth and comfort spread through his hand where the drop landed.

Past the rest of the slow moving liquid creatures, he went back to battling keese that got too close. He took a full swing at one on his left side with the blunt part of his sword. It flew directly into the wall where it crashed and splattered into nothingness. The skultulas were thinning out now so much that most of the wall was empty. The ceiling of the cave came over head replacing the water at about the spot directly above the keese that hit the wall, so he knew he had made quite a bit of progress towards the end of this cave.

He looked at the keese hitting the wall for a moment too long. A powerful sting was felt on his right shoulder. He let out a yelp in pain as the fangs of the keese sunk in deeper. Link spun wildly avoiding attacks from the other keese. He moved to the side of the cave where he used his body to bash it against the wall freeing himself from its strong grasp.

It fell halfway to the ground and fluttered its wings attempting to fly dizzily away, but was instantly pinned against the wall by Sheik where it smoked and vanished. Instead of another rupee, a glowing red heart was released by the keese. It drifted slowly lowering to the ground like a feather caught in the breeze. Link reached out for it until he feels his fingers wrap around. The heart melts into his palm and his back starts feeling better instantly. The effect was exactly the same as the heart released from Zant's sleeve. Even the keese bite marks heal up to the point where there isn't even a scar to tell the tale.

The keese are now numbering so greatly that his vision to the next torch is almost blacked out entirely. He still hears the gushy noise of that other thing bearing down on him, but he can't tell where it's coming from. A dead sprint is made for the top now only killing the keese that block his direct path.

He jumps up through the trap door and instantly turns around to slam it shut. One of the larger slime creatures burst through before he can with half a dozen keese following suit. A strong kick shuts the door and he latches it. He jumps back as fast as he can, dodging the attack of the slime ball.

He goes down two steps just off the altar ready to take on the remaining keese, his sword tight in his left hand. With a well placed slash, he connects with two of them. The first instantly disappeared in a cloud of dust, and the other lost half its wing. It spiral crashed into the first row of seats disintegrating on impact.

The rest fly high out of reach, their black bodies gliding across the ceiling of the church as obvious as blemished in the daylight. One flies straight down, kamikaze style, right for Link. He swings Sheik for this one but it was early…too early. He had completely missed his mark, and was off balance. Sheik couldn't be pulled back in time and the dark creature was closing in too fast. It was close enough now that Link could see the white fangs. The bite one his shoulder was bad enough, but this one was coming right for his face.

He closes his eyes tight readying for the inevitable, but instead of the pain of teeth and claws, there is a sharp sound of something flying past his ear. Whatever it was, it brushed against his hair and it was immediately followed by the familiar sound of a keese exploding into nothing on the spot. He gets covered in dust from the dead keese and opens his eyes just in time to get thwacked in the head by a green rupee.

He feels the ground hit him now on the tail bone. The force of the rupee and him still being off balance planted him right on his backside. Something very small and shiny, streaking through the air, passed directly under the bright sunlight in the window. It catches his eye right before hitting another keese fluttering about the ceiling. He looks to the source of the pellet to find Lynn standing there, just past the doorway, slingshot in hand, taking aim at a third one. It instantly meets its target pressing it to the wall until it bursts.

The two keese that remain since this girl as a new threat, and more out of hunger for the young girl than vengeance for their fallen brothers, dive bomb faster than ever directly at her. These creatures are obviously not known for their intelligence, just their instinctual and endless hunger for flesh. Just as bats they are blind and use their powerful ears and echo-location for themselves and pinpointing their targets. So Link remaining stationary on the floor was a lot less visible than Lynn using her slingshot.

She gets low to the ground spinning in a full circle on the balls of her feet. Coming back around Link saw she pocketed the slingshot and had a foot and a half long dagger out. The glistening blade had a slight curve to it and was sharp only on one side. He could see it now a lot more clearly than last night when they first met. Finishing her spin the blade sliced across the air instantly dropping one of the keese right out of the sky.

The other one is only feet away. Link jumps to his feet sure that she wouldn't react in time, but just then he sees her roll forward dodging it completely and uses her momentum to get back on her feet.

She tosses the dagger for just a second then catches in so that she's now holding it with the blade out of the bottom of her hand. A blinding fast backhanded swing later and she's on one knee with the keese flying past in the opposite direction. She stands up turning to face it in one motion and sheathes her dagger hitting the hilt hard against the sheath so it snaps.

At the exact moment of the sound of the hilt meeting the sheath, the keese splits in two. A small cloud of dust from the two remnants of keese sprinkles on the floor, followed by the clank of a blue rupee.

"Link, why didn't you tell me you were gonna open the trap door and fight some keese!? Those things are so much fun!" She yells to him.

That gushy, sloshy noise becomes louder now as Link and Lynn move closer at the center aisle of the church. The blob of slime gushes out of one of the rows of seats big enough to attack both of them at once.

Both Link and Lynn unsheathe their weapons and slice straight through it. The thing bursts from the double attack in a big splash covering them in this sticky warm liquid that was again surprisingly soothing.

"You brought chu's out of there too!?" How deep did you go!?" Lynn asked looking excited.

"Choose what? Did I have a choice?" He asked confused of the name of that liquid creature.

"No," she giggled, "that thing is called a chu-chu, or just chu for short."

"So what was it?" he asked trying to get a better explanation.

"Those things are really cool, but dangerous as they come. People spend their lives hunting curtain types of them. Chu-jelly is the source of the best healing potions in all of Hyrule. I wish I had a jar for this stuff right now. Just a simple jar full will get me a gold rupee easily!" Her explanation still doesn't help him too much, "but the stuff evaporates in under a minute so by the time I run home to get one, all of it will be gone."

"So, that's why I feel so good right now?" he asks trying to make some sort of since out of it.

"Yeah, euphoria is a nice little side effect. I've never really fought one before, but I did read about them."

Link and Lynn walk together out the door of the church to the steps outside. They sit down and get some rest from the fight. The sunlight and warm summer air caught his skin making him feel even better than the chu-jelly. It was such a relief not being trapped in a cave like he was all morning.

"So why did ya come to the church today anyway? Thanks for saving me, but I really didn't expect to see you there. You were amazing. Did Pete teach you to fight like that?" He felt like her for a second asking questions as fast as they came to him.

"Yeah, Uncle sent me. He and Rose taught me everything I know about swordplay. That last move is my favorite. It's a ninja move that Rose had me master." She replied, "Uncle told me to go to the church and wait for you. Where is Impa? He said that she would be here too?"

"She stayed at the bottom."

"The bottom!?" Lynn stared at Link with great interest, "What's down there, I only go just inside to fight some keese when I'm bored and Dad's got no work for me."

Link explains everything he saw; all the creatures, the old town of Kakariko and its graveyard, and finally about The Temple of Time and the Master Sword.

"It still exists!? The legends are real!? The temple and the Master Sword, right beneath our feet!?" She is very astonished by everything as Link gives a quick nod. All she can say in reply to that is, "Wow!"

They walked down the cobblestone church steps back toward her dads bar in the warm summer air. It was mid day and the streets were crowded with all sorts of people. Outdoor merchants were selling necklaces and seashells for a few rupees a piece. Crowds were forming in a few places.

He reached into his pouch while on the street and now after killing all the keese he had about fifty rupees to his name. He comes to a stop at the fountain in the center of town facing the blacksmith shop. He sits back on the ledge of the fountain, and Lyn silently sits next to him.

"You're leaving soon aren't you?" she asked at some length.

"Yeah, my sister is in those woods somewhere. I was hoping I could get a last good meal from your dad and be off tomorrow morning, but…"

"…but you're afraid you'll die out there and what good would that do for your sister?" she finishes his sentence.

Link shrugs and gives a slow couple of nods.

"Uncle thought so too," she said pulling a folded piece of paper from her pocket, "He told me to give you this."

The fresh page was quickly unfolded in his fingers. The lettering was of a neat script, and the letter was short and to the point. He read it quickly while Lynn looked over his shoulder.

_Link_

_When you acquire a sword and shield meet me on the beach. I will teach you the base skills of combat you will need to survive anywhere your adventure takes you. Come back later and often when you find and collect my secret marks scattered all over Hyrule. You will know them when you see them. This letter is the first hero mark you will find. For these combat skills you will not need to see me directly to learn them. The markers will help you awaken some of your own dormant skills. I want to see what you've learned every time you visit. Keep it with you always. Remember: A sword has no strength unless the hand that wields it has courage._

_Pete_

"Sword and shield?" Link asks to no one in particular.

"Baron sells shields at the blacksmith shop, but you have to special order swords and that takes weeks. The ones on display are just for show. They would never stand up in a fight. They're just there to show you the different types of swords he can make." She answers trying to be as helpful as possible.

He pulls Sheik out of its sheath on his back and holds it across his body. The sunlight gleams down the length of the blade. "I think this should do for a sword," he says handing it to Lynn, "How much does Baron normally charge for a shield?"

"The nice metal Hylian Shield normally goes for about two hundred rupees, but he has a wooden one that is still halfway decent that costs around seventy. Besides I don't think you can hold more than a hundred in your pouch, it's pretty full as it is." She says looking at his wallet.

She swings the sword in the air. The weight and balance is nearly perfect in her hand as it glides in front of them. She looks at the eagle over the Triforce symbol etched into the dull part of the blade near the hilt; the exact same image in Impa's armor. "This sword? It was used to protect the royal family, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, Impa said it was thousands of years old." He told her, "She said it was named Sheik after one of the greatest of her people. I'm amazed that even with the magic on it, it's still in such great condition."

"Didn't she tell you?" Lynn asks handing the sword back to Link, and he placed it on his lap. "This is a truly magical blade. It's not like one of those swords with a simple little enchantment that fades before the sword finished its first battle. There are only three of them left in existence."

"She said only a little bit of its history, but she made it seem that even the greatest of magic fades with time." He told her

"Most does fade, but this is the ancient magic of the goddess and the sages. It existed before time was written down. It will never fade, constant as the land of Hyrule and the Triforce. There is even said to be greater powers hidden within those swords that's only granted to the person meant to be its true weilder."

"Only three left in existence. One of the other two must be the Master Sword, and have no idea what the third one is," Link responds.

Lynn's tone, much more serious than her usual playful self, which Link can tell stems from her love of swords and swordlore. "That other one is the Sword of the Sages. It's a legendary white blade that was used to execute Ganon after he first attacked Hyrule. He survived due to the power of the Triforce, and stole the, Sword killing one of them in the process. The other five of them banished him and the sword into the Twilight Realm. The master sword is the third and the greatest one of them all."

"Ok, so I have a sword and I'm twenty rupees away from a shield. Wanna hunt a few imps in the woods with me really quick?" he asks looking at her hoping to see how she dances with her dagger again.

"I love imp hunting like crazy!" She says with a smile, "but I can't at this time of day. There are too many people at the town entrances and everything is way too crowded. They stay deep in the forest where the goblins and stalfoses are. I've never fought any of them, they are really dangerous. Even if I did get to fight one out here, someone might see, and that's just stirring up trouble in itself."

Link's face drops. He can't afford to buy the shield and Pete is waiting for him. What's more, he's heard of two more creatures roaming the woods. He was pretty sure a goblin was a stronger, meaner imp, but 'stalfos' was something he never heard of before.

"Will this help?" she asks holding up a red rupee dropping it in his palm. "I picked it from an imps pocket using a rope and a grappling hook once. Uncle was training me on my thieving skills on the edge of the woods. He said I could keep it for the good job I've done. Oh, the rupee I mean. I wish it was the grappling hook, it can get you out of some really tight spots too." She is beyond help when it comes to simple answers.

"Thanks, I owe you one later on. Just tell me what you want," even as he spoke, he knew he would regret owing a favor to her.

She blushes, "Is it too much to ask for a date with the hero?"

"We're gonna have to run that by Zee first, but I don't think she would mind a date." He answers and follows up with, "Just don't get your hopes up that anything will come of it."

She happily nods, "I thought you'd say that. Hey, I just thought of something, and we could probably make a lotta rupees on the side!"

He rolls his eyes at her half knowing where this line of thought is going.

"We could have a date with the hero contest or even a date with the princess! What do ya think?"

"So you just want to sit both of us in a carnival kissing booth?" He asks looking at her with a slight hint of disgust, "Thanks but I think I'll pass."

"Oh yeah, sorry," she says looking at the ground realizing how bad it was to say it like that.

"It's not your fault. This hero-princess thing is starting to get on my nerves. We are just as normal as everyone else around here," he says still a little aggravated.

"I know, it's just that…" Lynn trails off not really sure what to say.

"Look, I'm no hero. I'm just some teenage kid who got caught up in a fantasy world. I fell for Zee years before these hero and princess titles ever came up. I'm gonna find her and save her, and that's all there is to it."

A familiar voice comes from behind the fountain, "Spoken like a true hero. For someone who doesn't want his name, you're sure doing a bang up job living up to it."

He turns to see Pete standing there as he continues, "I got tired of waiting for you at the beach, and I don't really tan all too well."

"Uncle!" Lynn jumps to her feet, giving him a hug.

"So are you ready to learn how to fight?" he says returning the hug but still talking to Link

"He still needs a shield," she says letting the hug go, "but Impa gave him that sword. You know, the one passing through her family."

"Sheik!?" he looks at Link a little surprised. His look showed a lot less surprise than his words let on.

Link pulls it a short way out of the sheath showing him the eagle over Triforce symbol.

"That's really impressive," Pete says looking at the sword in his hand. "You're the first person who isn't of Sheikian descent to be able to wield that sword effectively."

"But I am of Sheikian descent. My mom is Impa's sister, Katie. So it all fits."

"Katie. Is that what I missed last night when I was cleaning the kitchen with Talon? It's been such a long time…" his mind drifts off for a second.

"Wait a minute!" Link draws him back really curious about that missing section of his past, "did you know my mom and dad!?"

Pete quickly changes the subject, "I want to see that blade of yours in action at the beach. Let's go see Baron first though. I'm sure I can get us a discount on that wooden shield."

The three of them walk across the cobblestone streets towards the blacksmith shop. Always having paved roads and sidewalks, it was not easy to get used to nothing being even that he walked on. He pushed through the open doo that had a little bell jingle when he opened it and stepped into the shop. His feet met the wooden floor instead of the pebbled ground. The room was warm and had a decent amount of space to it. The walls were all lit by oil lamps. There were many shelves and tables in the open that had most household item there, but anything that appeared to be useful was behind the counter.

The shop clerk, the same girl asleep in the par was here on her day shift. Not to Link's surprise, she was in a half passed out state here too. Behind her on the shelves were eight items that might possibly be weapons.

The top left had black balls, about half the size of a bowling ball, with a fuse at the top. Below it was a sign:

_ Bombs: 5 Rupees each_

_ Imported from the Gorons_

_ Blast radius: approx. 3 yds_

_ Dodongo Hide bag required_

_ for purchase._

Next to them was a brown fur covered nut no bigger than a fist:

_ Deku Nuts: 3 rupees each_

_ 15 Rupees for a dozen_

_ Delivered from Skull Kids and Korocks_

_ They pick them from Deku Trees_

_ in the Lost woods._

Above the bombs was an empty spot with another sign:

_ Hylian Shield 200 Rupees _

_ Temporarily Sold out_

_ Management is sorry for_

_ any Inconvenience._

Right next to that spot was a shield made out of a solid type of wood; possibly oak or pine. It had a nice finish to it:

_ Wooden Shield: 70 Rupees_

_ Caution: Weak against _

_ fire based enemies._

On the other side of the sleeping shop clerk were slingshot pellets which had a price tag of ten rupees for a pack of thirty and three different sized bundles of archery arrows that would be less expansive if you bought them in bulk.

"It's amazing this girl still has a job anywhere." Link says looking to both Pete and Lynn.

"Don't take her lightly Link," Pete answers. "She is one of three identical sisters with ESP. They know every little detail about the shops they work at. If you ever try to steal from one of them, the other two are waiting just outside for you."

"Yeah, my friend, Barnes can vouch for that. The kid tried to make off with some bombs. He ended up hanging upside-down from the shop sign, dangling there by his shoe laces. He never did that again," Lynn adds with a giggle.

"Why did he steal bombs?" Link asked.

"Idiot claimed his family was the one that invented them and that he should have exclusive rights to sell them," she answers, still giggling.

Pete rings the bell on the desk and she slowly wakes back up. Blinking a couple times until are eyes fully open she looks at him, and the other two standing just behind in their own little conversation.

"Oh, young Link," she reaches past Pete to get his attention. "Baron asked me to reserve this for you and to give you a discount." She sets the wooden shield on the table with a twenty rupee price tag tied to the handle.

Link was so happy about that deal he also got himself the dozen deku nuts and a bag of slingshot pellets for Lynn, giving her back the red rupee too.

Together they walk out of town to the empty beach. They pass under the archway nearing the grass and sands; Pete in the lead with Link and Lynn conversing close behind. This is simply Lynn speaking in her usual fast paced manner and Link trying to keep up. In the daylight outside of town the beach was about fifty feet of sand between where the grass starts and the water, and there was about half a football field's length from the town to the woods. The rest of the area between the woods and the town was a really nice field. The only part of the field that wasn't green grass was this one dirt trail that lead directly from the town wall to an opening in the woods. To the north was bare mountain side. Along the town wall north of the archway was this one small forested area that was completely separated from the rest of the lost woods by the mountain side.

"When I was a little kid, this beach used to be a great little vacation spot. One day, imps started showing up and scaring off all the tourists. For a while, the mayor had to close it off to anyone who wasn't part of the guard or had official business. We've almost got an unwritten truce with the imps and they stay away during the day but own the waves at night, but the place never got back to where it was."

"But I've already seen an Imp," Link manages to get in a reply but is instantly cut off by Lynn.

"Yeah, they've been a lot more on edge the past few days. It's almost like something big is going on in there." She says looking into the woods. "There were lots-a sightings recently"

"That's only partially it," Pete says turning around on the grass about ten feet away from where the sand starts to the beach. "You stepped into the woods last night as I remember and invaded their territory. IT seems for now they are in with Ganon, and I'm sure he said you would come. They're all on higher alert this past week. That would explain their increased belligerence too."

Pete pulls his rapier from the sheath on his waist and Link draws Sheik from his back. They stand facing each other, both holding their sword in their left hand, separated by about ten feet of grass.

"Have you had to use that before?" Pete asks.

Lynn yells from this rock she's sitting on a little way off, "He took out some keese and a chu in the church with me! Link and that sword were made for each other, but he looked like his weakness is that he's never really been trained and just went on what came natural."

"So, no one actually taught you how to sword fight?" Pete shakes his head, "No fencing or anything." Link can only shrug, "It's just typical, all these fantasy stories and I know you played those Nintendo games back home where they just give a kid a sword and he suddenly swings like a pro."

"How do you know so much about my world?" Link replies giving Pete this strange look.

"Don't worry about that now," Pete comforts him, "The important thing is that you have the instinct down. That's something you can never really train on. What I will do is teach you how to turn that into precise sword movements. I will teach you how to properly engage countless enemies and live through it."

They start very slow. Pete first teaches the ways to dodge and escape attacks. Every swing of Pete's sword is faster than the last and Link avoids each one without ever even being close to touched. The final step of this part of the training is when Sheik is set behind Pete under Lynn's careful eye. Pete now stands directly between Link and his sword.

He makes a fast charging thrust towards the center of Link's chest. Lynn lets out a gasp followed directly with a sigh as Link dodges to the right. Pete pulls back the thrust and slashes horizontally at Link's waist all the while Lynn starts holding her breath again. Link does a diving jump over the swing of the rapier and rolls forward past Pete. He slides the knee of the green outfit against the grass reaching for Sheik. Pete turns on his toes making one last swing diagonally down towards Link just as Link picks up the sword and swings in a perpendicular direction at Pete.

They both stand motionless. The ringing has echoed out from the clash of metal as both swords meet. Pete gives Link a very warm approving nod and sheathes his rapier. Link got back up to his feet from his one knee feeling the sword finally stop vibrating in his hand.

"You have now assured my confidence in your defense and resourcefulness many times over. I now feel safe teaching you how to attack. Draw your sword, but remember when you do that; from now on this blade is an extension of who you are. Your movements must always be full of conviction of you will fail."

Link still has the sword in the air from the last part of the training although the ringing has completely stopped by now. He takes a deep breath as the sea breeze passes through his golden blonde hair. He closes his eyes for a moment and reopens them. The deep blue of his pierces into the hazel green ones Pete has.

"Good, now you understand what I'm saying." Pete explains, "Here are your three key attacks: The first two you have to wait for them to get close to you then use horizontal slash done on two or three enemies, a vertical one done on just one. The third one is when you are on the offensive, you do a forward thrust. This one is better for some of your tougher opponents than either of your two slashes. You must always be an expert judge of your situation and don't ever underestimate the usefulness of your shield.

Link pulls the wooden shield off his back feeling it hold around his right forearm, with his sword firmly in his left hand. They make their swords connect half way down the blades as a sign of mutual respect. Lynn, sitting on the sidelines covers her mouth with her own hands.

Seconds later they start sparing. The first move somewhat slow to ensure accuracy on Link's swings and parries but the pace steadily quickens. By about three or four in the afternoon their sparing has already shifted to a blinding fast pace. Link can almost feel as if the sword had melded with him and that his movements were mow second nature instead of thought induced like in the caves. It was just as Pete told him it would be, but he couldn't believe he got this skilled in the art of sword combat this fast.

Pete dodged a well place swing by Link and stood behind a rock that was about three feet high. The rock now separated him from Link. "Attack me! Do what comes to your mind first!" Pete shouts.

Link quickly coils and jumps high enough pulling his feet just over the rock. IN the air he was reminded of how he attacked Zant this very same way last night and lost. "Not this time," he thought to himself tightening his grip on Sheik. He focuses on Pete's every move, especially how he was gripping the rapier, and all of his possible parries and counter attacks.

Link's swing goes crashing into the ground with sand flying up into the air as Pete backs away just in time.

"Well done, indeed I am impressed. I never thought you would have become such a well accomplished swordsman in just one day." Pete looks at Link coming back up from his powerful swing with a complete since of astonishment. Pete gives him a pat on the back and offers a hand helping him back to his feet.

They walk a little further away from the beach and into a more grassy part of the field in the shade of the wall protecting the port city. It's a spot that's pretty close to that one small patch of trees and woods.

"This little wooded area is pretty much isolated from the rest of the lost woods, "Pete points it out to Link, "I've hidden a piece of equipment in there you may find helpful. There are a few imps in there and another surprise inside, but trained as you are now, they shouldn't but up much of a fight. When you come back I will teach you that first more advance move. The one I promised you on that hero's marker in your card."

Link steps slowly past the first branches into a small trail of the training woods. The trees blocked out much of the sun putting him in a cool shade. He pulls Sheik from its sheath on his back holding it firm in his left hand, and the shield in his right forearm. He is still shaky from his first combat experience.

Grunting and snarling is heard in the woods surrounding him. He makes a methodical turn to the right looking for the pale eyes of the closest one. He looks up to all the nearby trees, surveying the canopy over him. The high pitched shriek and grunts are heard, and Link notices the obvious pail eyes of an imp from up in a tree. It's directly followed by the string of a bow and an arrow streaking towards him. In an instant, Link's shield is up and the arrow is deflected from its path.

Link charges the tree holding the imp in its branch. It fires a couple more arrows in a panic, but Link easily dodges each of them. He hits the tree with his shoulder causing it to violently shake, discharging the imp. It lands on its backside but quickly recovers rushing Link. No time to focus on it, he slashes Sheik in a quick waist high swing catching it on its side. Two more swings of his blade, and the imp is thrown again on its back disappearing in a cloud of dust. A green rupee, and some quickly disappearing scorch marks are all that remains.

As he pockets the stone, two more jump from a nearby ledge. By the time either of them land on their feet, Link has already picked out the nearer one and makes short work of it giving four thrusts. The second runs through the cloud of dust and smoke in the wake of the first charging after Link. A quick sidestep and Link avoids the imp entirely. Then he slashes strait across its back with the side of his sword just after the dodge. It stumbles and turns for another attack, but Link gives another hard slice finishing it off.

Link's feet find their way to a ledge with at least a nine foot drop to the soft ground just below. The fall isn't far enough to hurt him, but the wall is solid dirt and mud that he won't be able to scale back up. Looking down over the ledge, Link sees a decaying piece of rope that looks torn and frayed at one end. He looks up to a branch where the other end of the rope is tied to dangling a few feet away. Without the rope tied to the branch properly, there is no return path. The center of the area blow is an empty spot where the sun can be seen in a perfect circle on the ground. It's the only place in the woods that isn't in shadow from the trees. The spot looks soft and grassy as if it should be in the field outside the woods.

Link presses on jumping off the ledge landing on the soft patch. He rolls forward as he lands to prevent causing too much of an impact to his feet. The roll finishes with him back on his feet. He starts to take a couple steps he is instantly stopped by the multiple noises of imps. It's an ambush! He has his back a few feet from the stone mud wall. Eight imps come from every direction but behind him surrounding him on almost every side. Thankfully there are none with the higher ground on the ledge he just jumped off of. All of them have their clubs drawn and ready to play with their food before they eat it. All of Link's muscles tense up causing him to tighten his grip on the hilt of his sword.

The imp standing exactly opposite the wall is in the center of the other seven. This one, holding a machete style sword, lets out a loud grunt and the rest respond with similar noises. The piece of metal it was holding had a really dull blade, if any at all, and it was almost completely rusted over. Still, it was far more opposing than the clubs and torches the rest were carrying. It lets out another snarly grunt and all eight run in as he gives their signal to charge.

The band of imps comes within inches of him. Link can feel their stale breath, and he knows they are all within range of Sheik. He releases the pressure on his muscles spinning the sword in a full circle around him. Link feels one of them get their hands on him as it glides its withered skin on his green clothes. Sheik connects with that one after the other seven. Every last one of them land on their back, but that one that managed to touch him still survived. The rest disappear in the usual poof of dust.

It looks around seeing the clouds of where his allies were. The sight of all his fallen comrades shocks it back to its feet still holding that flimsy dagger. Link stares down that one with his sword and shield at the ready. The imp looks back at him giving a more high pitched whining noise in defeat. In its other hand is what looked like a rock covered in a small amount of fuzz. Link recognizes as one of the deku nuts he bought at Baron's shop. The creature must have picked his pocket when he touched the fabric of his clothes. It was just as fast as Lynn said it would happen.

He makes one step towards it raising his sword. As soon as Link moves the Imp throws the nut to the ground between the two of them. There was a loud snap and blinding flash. When everything faced, the imp was gone with only a small amount of scurrying noises in the distance.

"There's the surprise Pete was talking about. Now, about this new gear?" Link says walking towards that area of glowing warm sunlight. He carefully climbs over and around low branches to the chest. The woods suddenly get silent. The chirping of crickets and the little sounds of small animals are all but disappeared. Even the wind has completely stopped subtly moving the leaves. Every step towards that spot of sunlight seems to get colder and more ominous around it.

Only a few feet away, his thoughts are, "If I can just get to that spot, I should be OK." Only feet away, a loud howl breaks the complete silence. A cark black furry creature with deep blue eyes jumps from the woods directly behind that sunlit spot. In the glow of the sun he could see it looked like a wolf or husky with fur of only dark black except for the white of its underbelly. It lands almost on top of Link and he has to jump back to avoid it. Seeing it land, it was much bigger than any dog he had ever known. He thought it could be the same thing a keese was to a bat only this time on a wolf.

It circles him moving fast on four legs, barking and growling while its feet constantly hit the ground. Link attempts a few swings at the beast, but everything is either dodged or parried by its tough front legs. From the looks of it, the legs have evolved to have a touch shell coating on them to act as either a blunt weapon or a protective shield. After blocking, it quickly returns to circling around Link.

It comes to a halt about five to ten feet away from him. Both of them constantly have eye contact with each other, sizing the opponent up for a weakness. The frosty blue ones of the wolf staring back into the much deeper blue Link has. It runs and jumps toward Link in a blur of dark motion to attack him. Link side jumps, just as fast, out of the way avoiding its teeth and heavy front legs. After the wolf's attack and swing of its heavy arms it takes a moment to recoil and set for its next move. At this time its soft and vulnerable back was exposed. The wolf regains its balance again and circles around Link like before.

The creature comes to a stop ready to charge a second time. Link puts his shield on his back holding his sword in both hands. It leaps again into the air, but this time as soon as it does Link side jumps and swings his sword down at the obviously exposed back. He pulls the sword back as the wolf dissipates in smoke, dust and small amounts of blue flame.

As soon as the last bits of flame spark out, Link's attention is distracted by what's happening at the grassy sunlit spot. The light intensifies many times brighter and the wind picks up all the fallen leaves. They quickly circle that exact spot so much that the center is blurred and then completely blocked from sight.

The momentary obstruction from leaves dies down and the light fades back to its original level revealing a small treasure chest that wasn't there before. He lifts the lid on it and pulls out what was inside holding it over his head for a couple seconds. It was nothing more than a metal hook at the end of a thirty foot strong rope. It must be the grappling hook that Lynn was talking to him about.

He walks back to the nine foot ledge of and the tree branch with the old broken rope hanging off of it. The hook spins around his hand and gets tossed up circling around the branch and grabbing hold. He scales the wall using the rope to help him climb up. With a flick of the wrist, the hook releases itself from the tree and he coils it up in his hand. He pockets it and runs outside to the field letting the warm late afternoon sunlight hit his skin.

Pete and Lynn see him emerge from the woods, "Good job. I'm glad to see the three imps and that wolfos wasn't much of a challenge for you."

"Only three?" Link replies raising an eyebrow. "What about the other ate that ambushed me when I jumped off the ledge?"

Lynn gasps; her face white with shock and concern, but Pete shows no fear. Instead he slowly walks to The Lost Woods straining his ears for any faint grunting and snarling. He squats down pulling a long blade of grass and puts it to his lips. It whistles slightly in the air as if it were a musical instrument. The grass drops out of his hand catching the wind flying off. He reaches into an inside pocket on the outfit he has on, and it comes out wearing this heavy brown glove.

The brown eagle that was with him last night squawks in the distance then it is seen soaring in the sky. It glides in circles down to Pete's outstretched arm. The bird's eye contact with Pete's arm long enough for him to gently pet it on the side of the head. She spreads her wings jumping off the glove. The wind catches her and she is lifted up flying just over the woods. She looks like she's just low enough that her talons are touching the tree tops.

"Do you know what those eight were?" asks Link.

"I have my suspicions," Pete answers. "Tell me, how organized did they seem. Was it just a rabble attacking randomly or did they seem to have a leader and attack simultaneously?"

"They were a lot more on the ball then the first three." Link says as the eagle is now far enough over the woods that she can no longer be seen.

"I'm pretty sure I know what they were," Pete replies, "but still, it makes no since. There's no reason a scouting party would travel that far from the depths of the Lost Woods if they didn't have a good reason. Malon, do remember the stories about these imps?"

"Grunts," she says practically scared to the point of giving single word answers.

"Grunts?" Pete asks trying to find meaning in this new creature name, his focus shifting from Pete to Lynn.

"You know how imps mainly work alone and just try to rob you blind?" Pete asks Link getting his attention back, "Grunts are a highly organized gathering of imps. They have staged some of the biggest robberies in the lost woods and used to raid Port Kakariko back before the town wall was built."

Lynn adds, able to speak again, "Some say there's a grunt city hidden deep within the Lost Woods, but no one has ever seen it. There is no proof of its existence at all so it's not on any map. Only us locals know it's there." She jumps up to Link giving him a tight hug. "You're lucky to be alive. It's so good to see beat them all and got outta there safely."

Link was glad to see her return to her usual spunky personality, but he knew that her mood would drop with what he had to say next. "I didn't kill all of them. One stole my deku nut," just has he thought it would, her face instantly froze with fear and almost feel her heart plummet as he was speaking. Pete, on the other hand, kept a stone poker face and only his eyes could hint that he was troubled by this information. "He snapped it to the ground and got away."

"Into the town, quickly!" Pete's face showed the urgency of the situation, "The scout has already reported back to his leader by now!"

No sooner had he said that than the mass noises of a small army of imps were all along the edge of the lost woods. Dozens of bows were drawn back and released all letting arrows streak across the sky. Pete sees one of them shooting directly at his niece and quickly dives over top of her tackling her in the process using his back to protect her. He braces himself in the last few seconds waiting for the arrow to strike.

A loud clank is heard from the sound of stone colliding with hard wood. Lynn looks over the shoulder of a still shocked Pete to see the arrow fall silently to the ground. Link is standing in front of both of them with his wooden shield out and the little nick of an arrow hitting it. He pulls Sheik out of its sheath and grips it firm in his left hand ready for this major battle.

The trees and hedges at the woods are swarming with the pale green eyes. The haggard faces are coming out from every angle. Pete quickly gets back to his feet pulling his rapier. His stance is that of a left-handed fencer or a master swordsman. It was just like the training, but Link felt almost sure that Pete was a righty and just using his left to make it easier to teach the right skills.

"You ok Malon?" Link asks her as she moves a little more slowly to her feet.

"What have I told you!?" She moves faster standing back up then squats low to the ground. Both hands reach behind her back pulling out daggers. The left one is held so the blade is behind her fist, and the right one is up like a normal sword. "No one but uncle and dad can call me Malon! Don't you forget it!"

The next wave of arrows shoot through the air towards them. Link ducks behind his shield deflecting them away. Lynn, with her new found fury, dances around the arrows as if they were standing still in the air. Pete's rapier bats them out of the sky if they get anywhere near him.

He sheathes his sword and in the next instant uses his hand to pluck one of them right from the sky. He fits it into his own bow and returns a shot. Unlike the imps shots which arched into the air and come down on their target, this one flew in a frozen rope straight towards the woods, and directly into the chest of a screeching imp. IT shatters into dust on the grown and the arrow comes to a stop lodged in a tree that was directly behind it. "Forgot my quiver," he says with a smile.

The arrows stop right along with the howling and screaming of the grunt army obviously surprised by the return fire. The woods are out of range of Lynn's sling shot or she would have tried to take out a few already. The lot of them then howled louder still and made their way onto the beach and field. Their numbers ranged somewhere between thirty and fifty and there was just as much more of them still sitting in the woods. It was now too late for a retreat because that would put the whole town at risk.

The early evening sun was momentarily blocked by Pete's brown eagle which flew directly past the battlefield, getting an exact surveillance of the enemy and over the wall into the town.

A cool sea breeze went across the grass just as the grunts were upon them. Simultaneously, all three made their attack on the charging grunts. Each connects to their respective nearest one causing them each to explode in a cloud of dust. It forces their allies to take a few steps back each time.

Pete and Lynn run through the smoke and dust of the fallen imps first attacking the next ones as if they had done it together a thousand times. Pete's rapier was moving as fluid like he was born swinging it in the air. Sometimes he would take out two or three of them with a single swing. Lynn was never still enough to be touched by a grunt weapon. She could easily go in circles around them picking apart their clumsy moves.

Link followed close behind the other two using his shield just as effectively as his sword. He deflected the grunt's attacks with it pushing forward on them in the same move. It would force their awkward bodies just long enough to follow it up with a strike from Sheik.

Their great start soon fizzled out as the minutes dragged on without any sign of reprieve. The numbers of grunts had yet to even start thinning out. Pete didn't show any signs of slowing down yet, but he looked as if he had known combat like this before. Lynn's movements were a little more lethargic and Link was breathing a lot harder. His shield felt like it was over a hundred pounds in his right arm.

The imps now were in a full circle around the three of them. The few who were still fighting all stopped and they backed up about ten feet away having the three of them surrounded. A larger one emerges from the woods on the back of an oversized wild boar with a saddle. It is moving slowly enough to be followed by one that was hobbling and limping. The larger one had eyes that were more of a yellow shade than the green of the rest of them.

The injured grunt points its withered finger at Link giving him a foul hiss, to which it replied with several of its own noises. All Link was sure of was that he was at the end of a conversation in some other language. There were two possibilities for where the conversation was going. Either the little one was pointing out Ganon's target, or it could have simply been that the small one was pointing out who killed the other seven in the training woods, and he demanded vengeance. If Link could guess, it would be the first one because the number of grunts killed in battle now was far greater than the seven he originally killed. That large one points its ten foot lance at Link and with a jerk of its neck the hoard of grunts all charge that spot where the three of them stood.

Before Link had a chance to raise his sword something caught his eye coming from the archway leading into town. The small silver metallic object shimmered in the sunlight as it slightly changed direction many times in the air. It just missed his ear and swerved through the air hitting a grunt in the chest instantly killing it. More of them fly over his right shoulder gliding across the sky. One of them even scratched along his shield and kept going hitting two more grunts. A last one goes directly in the middle of Link and Lynn hitting this one right between the eyes. All that remained of those grunts were the echoes of their snarling and the weapons used to kill them. Links pick one of these strong metal four pointed stars up off the ground.

The large grunt on the boar charges into the middle of the fight pushing other grunts out of his way as he readies his spear to impale Link. More glitters of metal catch the light of the setting sun as they fly towards that grunt, but they are all stopped and deflected by the grunt's armor and the boar's thick skin.

Baron charges into the battle in front of Link and thrust his shoulder into the boar so they both come to a halt. The boar's weight is still enough to push Baron back a few steps. The large grunt kicks its sides forcing the hog to push Baron back even faster. Its Lance is now swinging for Baron, but he easily avoids it. Baron uses its momentum to twist the head of the creature. He releases it to the side he twisted on and lets it just run and fall sideways to the ground.

The large grunt, a lot more nimble than he originally looked, abandons his oversized wart hog and rolls back to his feet. The beast gets up and runs squealing back into the woods leaving its master to fend for itself.

Rose sneaks out from where she was hiding behind the wall throwing shurikins. She moves very quickly and silently across Link's field of vision wielding the katana in her right hand. Her left hand has another shurikin ready to be thrown, and there's a row of them all along her right forearm so she can quickly grab another to throw. She moves blindingly fast without making the slightest sound, taking out grunts before they even know she exists. Cid follows her as best he can through the field making sure to avoid the grunts attacks until he reaches the center with Link and Lynn both winded.

He finally catches up with the two of them holding a glass jar. "Drink this, it should give you a second wind," he says to the two of them

"Calling her melon will be enough to give her a second and even a third wind," Link replies.

She gives him an evil stare and hits him on the back of the head. "It's milk from daddy's bar!" She exclaims popping the cork and drinking half. She angrily gives Link the rest hitting him in the shoulder with the glass.

"Ow, Ya see what I mean," Link says to Cid taking the bottle while ducking a second swing from Lynn. He finishes and corks the bottle back up feeling instant warmth running through his body. He feels completely revitalized to the point where he feels he can take on the rest of the world. He pockets the empty bottle and his grip tightens on the hilt of Sheik.

"Keep that big one alive. I need him to talk," Cid says to Link just before he slips back to the sidelines at the entrance of town.

Rose moves between Pete and Link and says, "It's a good thing Katie got us. Your eagle is such a sweetheart."

On her words, the eagle swoops through the town archway and hovers for a second landing on Pete's still gloved arm. Rose gives her a soft scratch on the neck before she jumps off through the sky giving the battlefield another survey. From Katie's point of view the numbers of grunts are quickly thinning out now that Rose and Baron have joined in the fray.

"You named the eagle after my mom!?" Link asks Pete finally hit by a second blow to the back of the head from Lynn.

"I told you, don't ever call me melon!"

"Sure," Link replies quickly

"You don't understand. It's bad enough that I've been given that name. I don't need you or anyone else reminding me all the time." She answers.

A moment later she sweeps the feet right out from under an imp charging the both of them. She stabs it in the chest with the dagger while it is still falling. Only the dust finds its way to the ground below.

"It's a long story. I'll explain later," Pete replies to Links original query.

The tides of the fight have now quickly turned in Link's favor. Baron crushes one under the blade of his battleaxe, and the rest of the survivors are starting to scurry off into the woods. The larger one remains behind trapped by the five of them. He still never takes his eyes off of Link, becoming completely oblivious to the actions of the other four people.

Rose standing opposite from Link isn't even noticed by the grunt. She moves never making a sound from her intensive stealth ninja training moves directly behind it. She puts her katana into her sheath. Her stance becomes low and coiled ready to strike. Link knows he can't blink. If he does her move is too fast and he will completely miss it.

She grabs the sword unleashing her attack. In one fell swoop she katana is pulled from its sheath and flipped so that the dull side is what will make first contact. She spins her whole body around swinging the sword completely across her body. Link can't say for curtain if he even saw the sword move at all. Link only saw the creature fall to the ground unconscious from a hit to the back of the neck, and Rose's katana on the opposite side of her body from where it started. She turns it back around so the blade is on the outside again and slides it back into her sheath.

Cid runs back in the field and they all move towards the passed out grunt leader in a heap on the beach sand. It was hit so hard the armor fell off and is on the ground surrounding him.

"Hey Lynn, look at that sunset," Link says to her as the last golden rays of sunlight disappear over the ocean.


	6. Just the Two of Us!

**Chapter 6: "Just the Two of Us!"**

"How much do you know about grunts, Link?" Pete asks slowly. The few candles and moonlight through the open window curtains was plenty for the small room Talon had set aside for Link to be able to rest as many nights as needed in. Pete and Link could have a quiet conversation undisturbed here. This was probably going to be the one where he would finally get some answers. He had so much he needed to know; Pete's past concerning his family, how he knew Katie and Rusl (his mother and father) the name of the eagles, the grunts, and about a thousand more questions all came to mind. Unfortunately, Pete asked the first question Link will have to answer before getting the information he needs.

"Only what you told me just before the fight," Link replies, "so practically nothing."

"Grunts are required to follow the only two laws that govern their race. It is really all they know, so they all must follow to a fault. In this state of Hyrule the laws correspond perfectly and yet are at a paradox with each other. This remarkable situation is probably why their whole civilization perpetuates so well," Pete explains.

"What are these laws?" Link asks slightly impatiently.

"I'm getting to that," Pete answers, "The first law is that they must always swear allegiance to that side which is the strongest in power and battle. This law has existed since the very first grunt attacked Hyrule working for Zant and Gannon during The Twilight Wars."

Pete stops to take a breath, with Link trying to be quiet and not rush ahead and lets Pete continue, "The other Law was taught to that very same grunt by the hero of that time period. It was at this time that the hero fought this grunt across two great bridges of Hyrule, in a desert, and in the Hyrule Castle itself. The first few battles were very unfair and the grunt resorted to all sorts of dirty tricks like taking hostages and superior numbers, but the hero would always triumph. As the battles reoccurred, this large imp would slowly fight on more level playing fields and not even allow other imps to interfere. It was here where he learned the second law that he would use to govern his people. A grunt must always seek honor that can only be found on a battle field."

"I'm not sure about honor on today's fight. Do you think they attacked under Ganon's or Zant's orders?" Link asks trying to make since out of all of this.

"That's what we intend to find out. They were obviously focused on you throughout the fight and there's still the issue about your sister." Pete answers. "I've already got Cid in the basement so he can help with the interrogation."

"Interrogation? How can Cid help?" Link asks.

"He is a linguist. He can translate almost any language there is. From the Occoo Sky Beings to Deku Scrubs, there isn't a race language he hasn't studied. He knows imp fluently. With his photographic memory, if he reads something once he never forgets." Pete answers turning toward the door.

"What is a Deku Scrub, or an Occoo?" Link asks a little perplexed.

"Other creatures of this world. You will meet them all soon enough," Pete gives a fairly vague answer.

"Wait!" Link raises his voice, "There's something else I need to know."

"Later, it can wait," Pete stops him calmly to counter his raised voice.

"What does your eagle have to do with my mom?! There's no way you gave her that name by coincidence!" Line starts yelling as Pete stops in his tracks with his hand on the doorknob.

"Katie isn't my eagle," Pete answers putting most of his emphasis on the word, 'my.'

"Not yours?" Link's tone is less loud but just as demanding.

"No, she wanders freely and watches over the remaining lands of Hyrule." Pete still gives a calm answer although being visibly shaken by this topic.

"That's it?" He asks again almost certain that Pete isn't giving him the full story, "That still doesn't explain her name."

Pete releases the doorknob and walks across the room for the window whose curtains are open, but the glass is firmly shut. He lifts it up letting a cool breeze fill the room. Katie follows the summer sea breeze a few seconds later and lands on a small circular round table near the center of the room. She is followed much more slowly by Pete who walks very close to her whispering something in her ear.

She let out a loud but very calming noise then lifts herself off the table with her wings. They glide her across the room to Link letting her land very gently on the green sleeve of his arm. Her movements are so gentle that her talons don't even dig into his skin as she lands. Her beak nuzzles his cheek as if she were trying to give him a soft kiss.

"I needed to be sure she was ok with me telling you everything." Pete sighs as Link pets the brown feathers on Katie's head, "I knew your mother until shortly after your sister, Sarah, was born."

"So you have been to my world?"

"Yes, that's right. Baron and Cid were in Germany and Rose was in an old samurai dojo in Japan. I had to find these three people I was looking for. These were the ones assigned by the gods to help train and to fight alongside with the hero because Ganon has culminated all of his powers from his previous attempts on Hyrule and the hero on his own may not be enough to defeat him this time. When all was said and done, I paid another visit to your mom to see a very young Sarah, and to see how you were growing up. Then I came back here, to Hyrule."

"But how does that tie in to Katie and mom?"

"Chill, Link. I need a second to take a breath; there is a lot I have to tell you." Pete answers, "That's like twice now you've interrupted me."

"Sorry, I'm just a little anxious," Katie gave him the same dirty look his mom would when she didn't approve of something. He hasn't seen that since she caught him with the cell phone pictures.

"It's ok," Pete answers, "So anyway, when I left she gave me a baby eagle and blessed it with a small part of her soul. It was her way of keeping in touch with the world she was forced to leave behind. She knew that she could never bring her children back here with Ganon or Helmaroc after you. There was no way she would ever leave you behind to fend for yourselves either."

"So Katie, is in part, my mom?" he asks looking at her. It was in her smile and eyes that he instantly accepted it.

"Yes, she will watch over you as long as you are here, but she cannot go beyond the boundaries of Hyrule," Pete warns, "If she does the magical blessing from your mom would be undone and Katie would become just a normal eagle."

Link gives a soft long hug and lets her go. She soars in a few circles around the room and flies out the window.

"Wow, my mom is protecting me even here!"

"That's not entirely it," Pete states ready to disclose a little more information. "How much do you remember about your father, Rusl?"

"I don't know much about him. He was always gone on business trips. I never hated him. I understand how important it is supporting your family even if it means you can't spend every night with them, but I do wish I got to know him better. To tell the truth, if he was still alive today, I probably wouldn't even recognize him."

"Still alive?" Pete asks finally showing some emotion instead of the calm poker face, "What happened?"

"Oh, he died when Sarah was very little. I don't even know if she remembers him at all. It was a car accident when he was in Florida."

"Died in a car accident?" Pete echoes

"Yeah, they're these powered things that move you around. There's an engine and it burns a type of oil to rotate these rubber wheels." Link says trying to explain a car to someone who might have never seen one.

"No it's OK," Pete replies letting his concern fade away to his usual calm demeanor. He may even be showing a little smile, "I know what a car is. I've been to that world, not the dark ages."

"Oops," Link giggles

"So your father died shortly after I left. It's such a shame. He was a good man. I suppose it is better this way though."

"You knew my father!?" Link asks this question with urgency then the second question as an afterthought, "And what do you mean 'better this way'!?"

"Huh?" Pete replies realizing he was just thinking out loud. "Don't worry about that right now. We have to get this grunt to talk if we want to save your sister."

Link's thought quickly try to arrange everything. He's sure that Pete is hiding something about his father and that there were still other family secrets with this guy. Still, Link needed Pete to be on his side so it's best not to overstep your bounds on what is obviously a touchy subject for him. Learning those secrets now wouldn't do anything to save his sister anyway. She needs him a lot more than anything else right now.

* * *

They walk down stairs right past the bar and into the kitchen. Down another flight of stairs, there was a poorly lit basement where Cid, Baron, and Rose are all waiting for them. The grunt was sitting in a somewhat comfortable chair, albeit too small for him. His restraints are the handcuffs behind his back, and the back of the chair is chained to the wall. It is not really enough to keep him there, but he knows he is outnumbered and they have the upper hand. An escape attempt would be a real waste of time.

Cid walks over to Pete and Link, "All he told me is that he will only talk to the boy in green."

"As I expected," Pete answers.

"Are we ready?" Cid Asks.

"Yes," Pete's response is very curt.

"Should be bring Lynn and Talon down?" Rose asks almost as soon as Pete answers.

"No, she's still a child and at this hour he still has customers. We shouldn't get him involved with this matter. It's not his fight. Lynn, on the other hand, has a knack for overhearing our little conversations, but it's still best that he doesn't see her here," Pete replies.

"Ok then. Let's get started." Cid says walking up to the grunt. He starts making some of his own high pitched noises. Link suspected it was the imp language, but the grunt made no sounds of mimicry or response.

"I speak Hylian," the grunt had a surprisingly low and raspy voice in comparison to its squealing and snarling counterparts. "Let me see the green child before I speak."

Cid reaches up removing its blindfold. Its eyes quickly scanned through the room, but as soon they found Link they didn't waiver. The eyes even seemed to try to pierce Link as if the battle didn't end.

Link slowly walks towards the large intimidating creature, "Why did you attack us?"

"We attacked just you," it replies. "All of your allies were only attacked to get to you, young fool hero."

"Why me?"

"You challenge the Twili King, Lord Zant. It is on his orders only that we attack you," it was very smug in its response.

"So you will attack me again?" Link asks raising an eyebrow.

"Our kind will always attack you; until you lose your life or prove more powerful than Lord Zant. We won't go into battle again very soon. Our shadow lord said that you will come to him after we attack once. It was his plan that I get taken hostage and tell you what I am about to say."

"And that is?" Link asks aggravated for falling right into Zant's plans again.

"That he has his bait, this little child. You will have to go deep into the Lost Woods to get the girl back," the creature answers with some sort of expression that is either a relish for the moment, or a disgust at it. Based on imp facial features getting a good idea of their emotion based on looks is almost impossible for anyone who isn't around them most of the time.

"Sarah!" Link gasps a little louder unsheathing his sword ready to charge.

Pete grabs his left arm holding back the attack, "Don't go down to his level."

"My level?" the grunts expression was almost that of sadness. "I hate this trap. There is no honor in kidnapping small children regardless of race. But our Twili Lord's orders are absolute and we are all compelled to obey."

"So where is she now!?" Link demands, getting closer but putting his sword away.

"She is already trapped in Farore's Temple dungeon on the ledge high above the forest. Those that linger inside will eventually become sprites, and will be forever trapped in that form." The creature answers as if he knew the question before it was even asked.

"She is lucky then." Cid says coming a couple steps forward. "Those that linger in the darkest parts of the lost woods will become a stalfos. That's what happened to the carpenter's son back when Hyrule was a young world. One of the children of the Great Deku Tree found the creature he was transformed into."

"_Everybody becomes a stalfos. Everybody… Stalfos… That is why he is not here."_ Rose recited the old rhyme from that event, but Link just looked at her with confusion.

Cid moves closer now speaking to the Grunt now, "Was there anything else you were ordered to tell us."

"My orders are simple," the grunt answers. "Tell that fool hero anything he wants to know, but do not speak to anyone else."

Pete moves closer now so that all three of them are practically leaning on the grunt, "We will release you soon so that you can tell your master that the hero will come into the forest very soon. And he will save his sister!" he voice and a very stern sound to it.

"Will you not kill me?" The grunt asks instantly dejected, "I deserve a warriors death, and not your pity."

"The battle is over, and we don't kill prisoners." Pete replies.

"There's no honor in that!" the grunt is still not satisfied by Pete's answer.

"You're wrong" Link stop's the grunt from speaking further, "Honor isn't found by the numbers you slay or your glorified death in battle that you will never even see. It is from living and holding all life, friend and foe alike, sacred. It comes from only fighting when it's really needed to protect the innocent and lives you cherish. It comes from sparing your enemy and showing mercy so that they can prove their own honor to far surpass anything they have ever known."

"We will see if your words have iron and steel when you battle Lord Zant," the grunt answers showing his doubt about Link's definition of honor.

Link turns to Pete, whispering so the grunt can't hear. "I've learned all I need to know about my sister. I'm gonna leave in the morning to save her."

Link walks further away from Pete going through the door back up the stairs. "Say goodbye to Lynn for me," he says as he closes the door behind himself.

* * *

Link was sitting up on his bed with too much on his mind to sleep. He was thinking about all the secrets Pete was keeping from him. His thoughts raced through all the secrets that Pete was keeping from him. Most of them were the friendship Pete had with his parents. He would find himself asking how this man could know so much about them and his childhood, and yet Link didn't even recognize him at all.

To make matters worse, the grunt only shed light on what Link already knew. All he knows is that he has to go into the forest alone. If the four warriors left the town, there would be nothing to stop the grunts from taking that town over entirely. That means he must leave really early to avoid anyone noticing.

"Link, can I come in?" Lynn's voice was on the other side of the door. It was much more timid than usual. After a moment of no response, she slowly cracks the door open assuming he had fallen asleep with the candles still lit. Instead he was sitting there, motionless, staring quietly out the window. She gently sits next to him, her eyes following his to the moon out the window.

"I'm leaving tomorrow," he says at long length.

"I know. Uncle is getting everything ready. I'm gonna miss him a lot too. This town really won't be the same without them. And I'm really gonna miss you too," she adds.

"No, I have to go alone," Link sighs

"You're gonna need all the help you can get!" she argues.

"I'll be fine. Everyone else has to stay here and protect the town. Without them and Impa, this place would be the new grunt city," he takes a deep breath, "Lynn, you are the only real friend I met since I came here. Both Pete and Impa are keeping their secrets. You are the only person I can really trust. You have nothing to hide from me." His serious tone breaks into a half smile, "that I know of at least."

"Impa's always been a secretive woman. Being in her position, there is no other option. I know uncle really well though. He wouldn't keep something from you unless he needed to. And me," she giggles, "I just wear my heart on my sleeve."

"Thank you just the same though," Link smiles at her just glad to be able to confide in someone.

"Sure," she giggles again.

"Hey, you wanna go to the beach? I could use some air, and there shouldn't be any imps out tonight," he asks hiding his ulterior motive.

"Don't you need your sleep for tomorrow?" she asks

"Nah, I'll be fine. Besides I don't want another dream like last night," he answers trying to make more of an excuse to leave the room and go outside.

"Sure it sounds kinda nice, and the tide came in right now so it's a great view," she agrees with him.

"I owe you a date anyway, right. I better make good on that before I head out." He cracks another smile out of his serious face.

She giggles, "I guess so. I was never gonna hold you to that, and what would Zee say."

Link walks slowly to the door cracking it open. Everything is already completely silent. He looks left and right out the door down each side of the hallway, making sure it's completely empty. He looks back into the room where she is standing a few feet away. He holds out his hand to her, "Our secret."

She runs up to him, grabbing hold of his hand in passing. Lynn is leading the way through the hall and down the stairs making sure to avoid any of the floorboards that would make any noise. Link walks behind trying to keep up and yet trying hard to follow in her exact footsteps to keep as quiet as possible. Link could easily tell that she snuck out before with the way she knew where all the noisy spots are.

When they finally got to the bottom of the stairs and cracked the door open there was only one person to be found in the bar. The barmaid was still asleep with her head on her hand. She could have easily been confused for a statue since she seems to never move from that spot. They both walk very slowly not to disturb her to the other door leading out to the town.

The wooden door creaks to being fully shut behind them, and Link turns the knob back to its normal position to prevent the latch from making any noise, but it didn't do any good. As soon as Link turns around he is confronted by two more girls. Both of them look exactly like the barmaid except that their eyes are wide open. The eyes were very intimidating. Instead of the usual round pupils, they had slits that were much more similar to a serpent or a cat.

The two sisters' expression instantly changed from wrath to a much more pleasant appearance. Their smiles returned and after a few blinks, their eyes even returned to a normal persons.

"Just you two," the left woman says.

"Must have been a false alarm," the right. They are both obviously having a discussion among themselves while both still looking directly at Link and Lynn.

"A beautiful night isn't it?" the left asks.

"Yes," the right. She reaches out her hand to shake Lynn's, "Farewell young Lynn."

The right does the same gesture to Link, "I hope you enjoy your adventure young Link."

After they all exchange handshakes the two sisters giggle to themselves and walk off to the north where their house is.

"Wow," Link turns to Lynn, "I thought you were kidding about those three."

"Nope," she giggles, "We should hurry before they come back."

The moon was already high in the night sky as they passed through the archway leaving town. The grass soon gave way to the beach sand, and both were soft under their feet. There was a slight grinding noise of the sand at the transition from field to beach. The come to a stop and sit down just out of the reach of the sliding water from the crashing waves. The surf was a little bigger than normal because of the full moon.

"So much has happened. It's amazing that I only met you yesterday at almost this exact spot," Link says to her with his eyes looking out to the water.

"I know. It's like I've known you for years," she says back to him. She's sitting with both of her arms around her knees and her feet flat in the sand. "But, you've gotta save everyone then hurry back. I can't wait to meet Sarah and Zee."

"Yeah, I know you'll love both of them," Link replies, "Sarah is so much like you sometimes it's funny, and Zee…" he pauses for a second and sighs, "There's no one in the world really like her."

"That's really sweet. I'm sure one day you two will find each other," Lynn says to him giving a soft hug. She whispers something in his ear while hugging him, "You've got such a long trip, and so much is gonna happen to you. Link, I want you to promise me something."

"Sure," he says not even stopping to think about what she will ask.

"Don't ever change," she says releasing the hug.

They could both tell. It was unspoken and unwritten. They had quickly become best friends, just as close as brother and sister, but that is where it would always end. Neither had any sort of interest in pursuing a romantic relationship.

Lynn started softly crying. It was almost time for them to part ways. Soon he would start a very long journey to save his sister and love. Her life would stay just as dull as it always was; stuck at her dad's bar until the end of time.

Link had just as much of his own problems, on the other hand. He wanted nothing more than a humble life and future with Zee, and he was thrown into this seemingly endless quest to save her. The more current problem was how he was going to go about tell Pete that he needed to go alone.

Link's chain of thought was thankfully broken when Lynn stopped crying and spoke, "Do you think I could meet your mom too someday?"

"My mom?" Link asks a little surprised.

"Yeah, uncle spoke very highly of Katie after he got back here," she nods.

"Sure, I don't see why not," Link smiles thinking of his mom. "You mean when Pete got back from searching the world, right?"

"Yup," she gives one quick head jerky nod, "He showed up with Rose, Baron, and Cid. It was when I was…" she pauses to think letting the 's' sound go a little long, "s… ten I think. He gave me this too. It's a little magic clock with a wrist band on it."

"That thing is definitely from my world. It's called a wrist watch, or just watch for short." Link answers putting it around her wrist and clipping it in place, "There, now you can always tell what time it is just by looking at the back of your hand."

"Thanks," she looked at it then continued what she was saying, "Uncle would stop by for only a couple days when I was little, but about five years ago he came back to stay. He would talk about your mom all the time back then. Come to think of it, he may have even mentioned you and Sarah too. Not so much recently though. Not until you came here that is. I just wanted to meet her too I guess."

"Sure, that should be no problem," Link answered since Lynn had stopped to take a breath, "I just never realized how much time Pete actually spent with my family, and I never even noticed him."

"Impa told me that uncle left just before I was born. IT was about the same time your mom and dad did. She said that his reason for leaving was to find the three people who were meant to train the hero and fight alongside him against Ganon. He was also sent to that world to try and find the Hero too, but he came back from that last trip alone. He took me into the woods back then," she trembles a little at this part of the story, "and he hasn't left the island since. I think from that point on, he was sure that you would come to us."

Link gets back to his feet, "It's getting late. We should go back into town and get to bed soon. I'm not tired at all though," he says holding his hand to help her up too.

"Link!" she jumps up after grabbing his left arm with both hands, "Let's go right now to save your sister!"

He stares at her a little confused not sure what she is asking, "We can both leave right now!" she yells as the idea comes into her mind, but it still has a slight hint of urgency.

"What right now?" He asks completely off guard by what she is saying.

"Just the two of us!" she shakes his arm almost pulling him to The Lost Woods.

"But…" Link tries to stop her.

"Why not? You don't want everyone else to come along," she interrupts, "and I know how to fight so I won't slow you down!"

Link tries to think of a reason for not letting her go with him, but only one thing comes to mind and he knows it would never stop her, "both your dad and your uncle would kill me."

"Come on, Please!" she shakes his arm up and down some more begging.

"Ok, do you have your daggers and sling shot?" he asks making sure she's ready.

"Yup, they never leave my side," she says grinning from ear to ear. Her hands finally release Link's arm letting it fall to the side as her hands check to make sure her equipment is with her. They both waste no time and walk into the woods.

* * *

Impa is leaning against the wall near the archway to town. She has a small smile watching the two of them disappear in the shadow of the woods together.

Katie was silently circling over Lynn and Link hidden by the night sky. She changes course soaring right over Impa's head and comes down just on the other side of the town archway.

"It's nice to see you bidding your farewells to the hero and my niece." Pete says to her while walking under the arch. Katie had landed on his shoulder just before he walked though the arch. Pete pets her on the head and the cheek while she is perched there.

"Why didn't you stop him so everyone could leave in the morning," she asked.

"That was never the plan. The hero was always meant to travel with just one companion. He should never be with a small hunting party. The Ancient Deku Tree told me of Lynn's importance when I brought her there. He said that Malon would meet the hero when he would arrive on this very island, and that she would start the quest with him as his first companion. It's why I came back here five years ago. I needed to train her in combat."

"How is the grunt?" Impa asks.

"Half way back to his home by now," Pete answers. "Jenny, Jessie, and Jamie slowed them down at the bar just enough that they didn't see us cut him loose. It's a pity though. They could have followed it the whole way."

* * *

"My lord, the hero is moving," the spy's voice said in a whisper just loud enough to overcome the crackle of the fire.

"Well done spy. Don't lose sight of him. Should this one survive my phantom after pulling the master sword, you can finally reveal yourself as my most faithful servant and force him to reunite my triforce." Ganon answers greedily awaiting his moment of triumph.

"As you wish, my lord," the spy's voice a little louder than a whisper now, "His companion is a Hylian girl. She is a very skilled fighter who has trained with the resistance for the past five years; however she is young and inexperienced in combat with anything greater than an imp."

"Keep her alive for now. You can kill her only after he has the master sword," He says.

Without a word the spy nods and turns to walk off. She pushes directly past the Twili who was coming in the opposite direction.

"My lord, just as we planned, we've lost the battle and the lieutenant was taken prisoner," Zant burst's out. He adds under his breath, "Sir, why do we still have that woman with us. She could just as easily be spying on us as she is on them."

The spy lets out a single menacing laugh then closes the door behind her to carry out her own mission.

"Liabilities like that are easily taken care of," Zant adds a little louder now that the door is shut.

"Calm yourself, Zant," Ganon's low voice comes over the fire. He is sitting on a chair just as large as he is facing a table. On the other side is the empty chair that was just occupied by the spy. He reaches over the table tipping over a black pawn on a chessboard. "The battle and the spy were both just sacrifices. We are in a much better position now than we were."

"What does that mean about the spy?" he asks. His mind still didn't fully grasp his master's plan yet.

"We need her for now. She longs for the restoration of the old Kingdom of Hyrule. It won't be until then that she may attempt to betray me. If she pulls something, you will assure that she fails. You may yet prove your worth to me."

"When the Triforce is restored, we can use its power to repair the mirror of twilight. You will be able to summon your army into this world. Once this world and your world are ours to control, we can finally invade that non-magical realm. All the technology and resources of that world will be mine to control. You will be at my side," Ganon says tipping over the white king on the chessboard.

"I can't wait sir." Zant nods and takes the empty chair, "so how exactly does this game work?"


End file.
